One  impulse  from  a  vernal  wood 
May  teach  you  more  of  man, 
Of  moral  evil  and  of  good, 
Than  all  the  sages  can. 

— WILLIAM  WORDSWORTH. 


WORLD    MAGAZINE 


Volume  XII. 


NOVEMBER,    1909 


No.  3 


PLANNING  A  WORLD 
METROPOLIS 


BY     -HEN  R_Y     -    M  . 


short  winter  day, 
seventeen  years  ago, 
about  a  score  of  the 
leading  architects  of 
the  country  met  at 
luncheon,  to  discuss  a 
great  project  in  which 
they  were  all  deeply  in- 
terested. To  each  of  them  had  been  en- 
trusted the  designing  of  one  of  the  build- 
ings which  were,  when  grouped  together, 
to  house  the  greatest  of  world's  exposi- 
tions. After  the  luncheon,  Richard  M. 
Hunt,  then  the  dean  of  the  profession, 
rose,  crippled  by  rheumatism,  to  explain 
the  design  of  the  Administration  build- 
ing which  he  had  pinned  to  the  wall.  As 
he  spoke  the  idea  of  the  exposition  as  a 
harmonious  and  artistic  whole,  seemed, 
for  the  first  time,  to  take  hold  on  those 


who  listened.  The  next  speaker  was  an- 
other New  York  architect  of  almost 
equal  reputation,  his  sketch  showing  a 
tremendous  towering  dome  and  other 
features  not  in  harmony  with  the  general 
conception.  A  single  glance  about  the 
room  and  he  was  ready  to  make  the 
necessary  sacrifices. 

"I  think  I  shall  not  advocate  that 
dome,"  he  said,  "and  I  shall  modify  the 
other  features  of  the  building." 

One  by  one  the  architects  present  sub- 
mitted their  drawings.  On  each  of  them, 
it  was  plain,  the  conception  of  a  great 
harmonious  city  of  palaces  had  laid  its 
compelling  spell.  Each  of  them  volun- 
teered to  make  such  modifications  as 
were  necessary  to  make  his  plan  a  har- 
monious part  of  the  whole. 

There  was  present  also,  at  this  meet- 


Copyright.  1909.  by  Technical  World  Company. 


PROPOSED  TRANSFORMATION 


ing,  a  number  of  painters  and  sculptors. 
Among  them  was  Augustus  St.  Gaudens, 
who  had  sat,  all  the  winter  afternoon, 
listening  and  looking  on  with  glowing 
eyes,  but  saying  nothing.  When  the  last 
man  has  spoken,  Mr.  St.  Gaudens  hur- 
ried across  the  room  to  where  sat  Daniel 
M.  Burnham,  to.  whom,  with  his  partner, 
was  chiefly  due  the  larger  design  of  the 
exposition.  Seizing  Mr.  Burnham  by 
both  hands,  Mr.  St.  Gaudens  enthusias- 
tically cried  out,  "Do  you  realize  that 
this  is  the  greatest  gathering  of  artists 
since  the  fifteenth  century?" 

The  city  in  which  this  meeting  was 
held  was  Chicago,  often  ignorantly 
called  the  most  materialistic  and  commer- 
cial of  cities.  In  reality  it  is  one  of  the 

236 


most  aspiring  and  spiritual.  The  great 
enterprise,  to  the  unity  of  which  archi- 
tects and  artists  sacrificed  their  personal 
preferences,  was  the  World's  Columbian 
Exposition.  The  design  and  arrange- 
ment of  its  buildings  have  never  been 
surpassed.  It  was  the  beginning  of  the 
orderly  and  artistic  grouping  of  great 
public  buildings  in  the  present  day  and 
in  the  United  States. 

From  it  has  come  the  movement  for 
the  betterment  and  beautification  of 
Cleveland,  Boston,  Baltimore,  St.  Louis, 
San  Francisco,  Washington  and  other 
great  muncipalities.  In  most  of  these 
plans  the  men  who  learned  their  lesson 
at  the  World's  Fair  have  had  the  larger 
part. 


SS 


OF  MICHIGAN'  AVENUE. 


Now,  on  a  scale  never  before  attempt- 
ed anywhere,  plans  have  been  completed 
for  the  transformation  of  Chicago  itself. 
They  represent  the  fruit  of  thirty  months 
of  devoted  work  on  the  part  of  architects 
and  artists,  many  of  whom  have  freely 
given  their  services  to  it.  Back  of  the 
movement  stands  the  Commercial  Club 
of  Chicago,  made  up  of  the  same  class 
of  men — though  of  a  younger  generation 
— who  raised  twenty  millions  of  dollars 
for  the  building  of  the  World's  Fair,  and 
who  were  wise  enough  to  intrust  its  ex- 
penditure to  trained  architects,  artists 
and  landscape  gardeners. 

The  plans  for  the  reconstruction  and 
transformation  of  Chicago  are  most  elab- 
orate and  have  been  worked  out  in  full 


detail.  When  carried  out  they  will  make 
of  the  great  town  on  Lake  Michigan  a 
world  capital  of  almost  unequalled 
beauty,  splendor,  comfort  and  conven- 
ience. They  contemplate  the  expendi- 
ture of  several  hundred  millions  of  dol- 
lars. From  the  Indiana  line  on  the  south 
to  Winnetka,  seventeen  miles  north  of 
the  city,  artificial  roadways  and  islands 
are  to  be  filled  in  along  the  shores  of 
Lake  Michigan  and  a  magnificent  marine 
pleasure  park  created.  About  the  city  to 
the  west  and  north,  four  great  circles  of 
exterior  highways  are  to  be  built,  the 
outer  circle  describing  a  radius  of  sixty 
miles  from  the  lake.  For  the  pleasure 
and  the  convenience  of  future  generations 
great  outer  park  belts,  comprising  more 


238 


TECHNICAL   WORLD    MAGAZINE 


than  sixty  thousand  acres  of  forest  and 
woodland,  are  to  be  acquired.  There  is 
to  be  a  concentration,  at  a  convenient 
point,  of  all  railroad  terminals,  so  that 
both  freight  and  passengers  can  be  trans- 
ferred, without  crossing  the  city.  For 
the  transportation  of  freight  and  passen- 
gers great  subways  are  to  be  constructed 
under  the  city  streets  and  a  complete, 
unified  system  of  both  surface  and  ele- 


which  the  city  already  owns  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  the  intellectual 
and  artistic  center  of  the  future  world 
metropolis.  A  mile  to  the  west  and  well 
across  the  river  is  to  be  established  the 
future  civic  center,  at  the  intersection  of 
Halsted  and  the  present  Congress  Street, 
which  is  to  be  widened  and  made  the 
future  axis  of  the  interior  city  plan. 
About  this  civic  center  are  to  be  grouped 


PLAN  OF  PROPOSED  YACHT  BASIN. 
Showing  also  rearrangement  of  down  town  streets. 


vated  roads  is  to  be  perfected.  Within 
the  city  proper  it  is  proposed  to  supple- 
ment the  existing  streets  with  several 
circles  of  boulevards  and  with  a  number 
of  diagonal  arteries  running  out  from 
the  center  like  the  spokes  of  a  wheel. 
The  boulevards  are  so  planned  as  to  act 
as  connecting  links  between  the  larger 
as  well  as  the  smaller  parks,  which  are 
already  scattered  about  the  city. 

Finally  it  is  proposed  to  make  of  Grant 
Park,  the  great  stretch  of  green-sward 


all  the  great  public  buildings  which  are 
now  scattered  about  the  city. 

Carefully  worked  out  in  all  its  details 
and  illustrated  with  maps,  plans,  photo- 
graphs and  a  whole  series  of  beautiful 
paintings,  the  great  project  has  been  de- 
scribed and  published  in  a  book  entitled 
"Plan  of  Chicago,"  representing  in  con- 
crete form,  certainly  the  most  elaborate 
and  ambitious  scheme  for  city  improve- 
ment since  society  was  organized. 

To  many  people  it  will  seem  visionary, 


COPYRI8HT,  1901,  CHICAGO   COUMERCUl.  CUM 

PROPOSED  GROUPING  OF  RAILWAY  STATIONS. 


but  they  are  those  who  do  not  know  the 
temper  of  Chicago  ;  who  are  not  familiar 
with  its  previous  achievements  ;  who 


have  never  felt  the  impulse  of  that  Chi- 
cago  spirit  to  which  nothing  is  impossible 
so  long  as  the  end  in  sight  is  a  great  one. 


PROPOSED  HARBOR  AND  LAGOONS. 


240 


TECHNICAL   WORLD   MAGAZINE 


Chicago,  with  its  feet  in  the  muck  of 
stock-yards,  is,  at  the  same  time,  the 
most  romantic  fact  in  history.  The  man 
who  was  the  first  white  child  born  on 
the  site  of  the  present  city  died  only  the 
other  day.  Yesterday  a  seven  million 
dollar  hotel  was  opened  on  a  lot  on  which 
another  pioneer,  in  his  boyhood,  pastured 
the  family  cow.  In  less  than  a  century 
it  has  grown  from  a  log  fort  in  a  swamp 
to  a  huge  community  of  between  two  and 
three  million  people. 

Sixty  years  ago,  when  Chicago  was 
still  a  mere  village,  its  people  realized 
that  before  proper  drainage  could  be  had 
the  whole  city,  as  it  then  existed,  must 
be  raised  out  of  the  swamp  in  which  it 
had  been  located.  The  project  was  pro- 
portionately more  appalling  to  the  few 
thousand  citizens  of  that  day  than  is  the 
present  plan  for  th?  transformation  of  the 
city,  but  it  was  promptly  undertaken  and 


the  level  of  all  the  streets,  from  Twelfth 
to  the  river  and  for  a  considerable  dis- 
tance both  on  the  North  and  West  sides, 
was  raised  by  several  feet  and  almost  all 
the  then  existing  buildings  were  lifted 
high  above  their  old  foundations. 

Ten  years  later — fifty  years  ago — the 
need  of  a  cosmopolitan  park  system  was 
first  agitated.  With  a  courage  and  fore- 
thought which  the  men  of  the  present 
day  can  be  trusted  to  emulate,  the  ceded 
funds  were  raised  and  so  large  a  body  of 
land  bought  for  park  purposes  that  even 
in  1880  Chicago  was  the  second  city  in 
the  United  States  in  the  area  of  its  pub- 
lic parks. 

In  the  '90s  the  people  were  aroused  to 
the  necessity  of  protecting  Lake  Michi- 
gan— their  water  supply —  from  contam- 
ination by  sewage.  To  achieve  this  end 
the  city  spent  sixty  million  dollars  in  dig- 
ging the  great  drainage  canal.  To  the 


PLAN   FOR  PROPOSED  CENTRAL  AXIS. 
Showing  also  water-front  and  street  improvements. 


ALONG  ONE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  LAGOONS. 

From  a  painting  by  Julos  Guorin. 


history  of  the  same  decade  belongs  the 
raising  of  twenty  millions  for  the  World's 
Columbian  Exposition. 

Each  of  these  projects — two  of  utility 
and  two  undertaken  solely  with  the  idea 
of  making  the  city  a  place  of  beauty — is, 
of  its  kind,  by  far  the  largest  ever  under- 
taken by  any  city.  They  furnish  the  rec- 
ord on  which  the  members  of  the  Com- 
mercial Club  base  their  prediction  that 
the  people  of  Chicago  are  not  to  be  baf- 
fled by  the  mere  size  of  the  new  project 
which  has  been  laid  before  them. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  many  of  the  most 
important  features  of  the  new  city  plan 
are  already  in  process  of  realization. 
Most  of  the  dirt  from  the  city  streets, 
from  the  big  tunnels  and  subways  under 
the  surface,  and  the  other  refuse  which 
has  in  previous  years  been  dumped  far 


out  in  the  lake,  is  now  being  used  to  fill 
in  the  proposed  islands  and  driveways 
along  the  shore.  From  these  sources 
alone,  sufficient  material  is  available — at 
no  cost — to  fill  in  thirty  acres  of  made 
ground  each  year.  Already  Grant  Park — 
that  great  pleasure  ground  in  the  heart 
of  Chicago — is  fast  creeping  out  into  the 
lake  toward  the  far  distant  Michigan 
shore.  It  is  on  this  park  that  the  pro- 
posed center  of  intellectual  and  artistic 
life  is  to  be  located.  There  already 
stands  the  impressive  Art  Institute,  with 
its  great  collection,  and  funds  amounting 
to  more  than  eight  millions  of  dollars 
are  now  available  for  the  building  of  the 
Field  Museum  and  the  John  Crerar 
library,  which  great,  monumental  build- 
ings are  to  complete  this  part  of  the  plan. 
Ninety-five  per  cent  of  the  roads  neces- 

C. 


7 


REARRANGEMENT  OF  GRANT  PARK 


sary  for  the  completion  of  the  proposed 
outer  circles  of  highways  are  already  in 
existence.  The  missing  links  are  short 
and  will  cost  comparatively  little  to  open. 
They  are  certain  of  completion  within  a 
^few  years.  Several  years  ago  Chicago 
approved,  by  more  than  a  majority  vote, 
the  purchase  of  forest  and  river  lands 
for  an  outer  park  belt,  but  the  project 
was  not  consummated  because  of  the 
fact  that  a  two-thirds  vote  was  required 
for  its  approval.  Agitation  looking  to- 
wards the  acquirement  of  an  outer  park 
belt,  on  a  much  larger  scale,  is  now  un- 
der way  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
when  again  it  is  submitted  to  the  people 
it  will  be  triumphantly  approved. 

Acting  under   the   so  called   Chicago 

242 


plan  by  which  the  city  gets  more  than 
half  of  the  net  profit  of  its  street  rail- 
ways, the  surface  transportation  systems 
have  been  almost  completely  rebuilt  dur- 
ing the  past  few  years  and  are  now  on 
the  way  towards  approximate  perfection. 
Freight  tunnels  under  all  the  down-town 
streets,  connecting  the  various  railway 
stations,  are  now  in  operation  and  only 
the  other  day  a  great  syndicate  made  pro- 
posals for  building  a  complete  system 
of  subways  for  passenger  traffic.  Elec- 
trification of  railways  running  through 
the  city  has  been  promised.  The  first  step 
towards  the  creation  of  the  proposed 
civic  center  at  Halsted  and  Congress 
streets  was  taken  this  fall  when  the  na- 
tional government  determined  to  locate 


ALONG  CHICAGO'S  WATER-FRONT. 


its  new  Post  Office  building  at  the  inter- 
section of  these  streets. 

Chicago  is  the  center  and  metropolis 
of  a  fertile  empire  greater  in  area  than 
Germany  or  France.  It  is  already  the 
greatest  railroad  center  in  the  world. 
More  than  three  thousand  miles  of  nav- 
igable rivers  are  direct  tributaries  to  its 
commerce.  During  the  last  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  population  of  the 
city  increased  from  thirty  thousand  to 
more  than  two  million.  Bion  Arnold, 
the  distinguished  engineer,  has  estimat- 
ed that,  if  the  present  rate  of  growth  con- 
tinues, the  population  of  Chicago  in  1950 
will  be  more  than  thirteen  millions.  James 
J.  Hill  has  declared  that  when  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Pacific  coast  number 


twenty  million,  Chicago  will  be  the  great- 
est city  in  the  world.  Quite  accustomed 
to  dealing  with  astounding  and  incredible 
rates  of  growth,  the  men  of  Chicago  are 
now  planning  for  the  future  on  a  scale 
correspondingly  great. 

With  all  the  blushes  and  self-conscious 
awkwardness  of  youth,  Chicago  admits 
its  present  and  manifold  short-comings. 
At  the  same  time  it  calls  attention  to 
some  indications  that  it  has  not  alto- 
gether been  lacking  in  the  realization  of 
its  manifest  destiny.  For  the  Thomas 
Orchestra,  which  is  without  a  rival  on 
the  continent,  it  has  built  a  permanent 
home  on  the  lake  front,  which  is  now 
valued  at  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  of 
dollars.  As  students  at  the  Art  Insti- 


244 


TECHNICAL    WORLD    MAGAZINE 


tute,  which  represents  a  much  greater 
investment,  there  are  already  gathered 
more  than  four  thousand  young  men  and 
women  from  the  Middle  West.  In  the 
Lake  Forest  University,  Northwestern 
University  and  the  great  University  of 
Chicago  it  possesses  important  centers 
of  the  higher  education.  To  the  gener- 
osity of  a  former  business  man  it  owes 
its  Benjamin  Ferguson  fund  of  one  mil- 
lion dollars,  the  income  of  which  is  to  be 


devoted  to  the  erection  of  statuary  in  its 
parks  and  along  its  boulevards. 

With  the  completion  of  the  present 
plans  Chicago  will  become  the  true  intel- 
lectual and  artistic, — as  well  as  commer- 
cial— metropolis  of  the  Middle  West. 
Retaining  its  place  as  a  great  business 
center,  it  will  also  be  the  great  show 
place  and  play  ground  for  all  the  people- 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley. 


To  Sleep 


A  flock  of  sheep  that  leisurely  pass  by 
One  after  one ;  the  sound  of  rain  and  bees 
Murmuring ;  the  fall  of  rivers,  winds  and  seas, 
Smooth  fields,  white  sheets  of  water,  and  pure  sky; 

I've  thought  of  all  by  turns,  and  still  I  lie 
Sleepless ;  and  soon  the  small  birds'  melodies 
Must  hear,  first  utter'd  from  my  orchard  trees, 
And  the  first  cuckoo's  melancholy  cry. 

Even  thus  last  night  and  two  nights  more  I  lay, 
And  could  not  win  thee,  sleep,  by  any  stealth ; 
So  do  not  let  me  wear  tonight  away  ; 
Without  thee,  what  is  all  the  morning's  wealth  ? 
Come,  blessed  barrier  between  day  and  day, 
Dear  mother  of  fresh  thoughts  and  joyous  health  ! 

—WILLIAM  WORDSWORTH. 


Chicago 


BY  CHARLES    HENRY    WHITE 


IN  all  probability  the  impecunious 
stranger  will  settle  down  to  receive 
his  first  impression  of  Chicago  from 
a  street-car,  because  this  saves  money 
and  a  great  deal  of  time  in  a  new  com- 
munity. Framed  for  an  instant  by  the 
window-sash,  a  myriad  of  things  barely 
seen  flit  by  in  a  disordered  pageant  of 
struggling  people,  streets  bristling  with 
chop-suey  signs,  great  office-buildings, 
trolley  wires,  street-cars,  trucks,  auto- 
mobiles, and  Irish  policemen.  I  open 
my  map  to  see  where  I  am  heading. 

"  The  loop,"  the  conductor  says. 

"  You  don't  mean  to  say  so  ?"  I  look 
rapidly  out  of  the  window  to  locate  the 
thing,  fearful  that  I  may  be  too  late  to 
see  how  the  populace  amuses  itself. 

The  passengers,  hanging  like  bananas 
from  the  straps  above,  pivot  grotesquely 
about  as  we  turn  a  corner.  The  man  is 
still  looking  me  over  suspiciously. 

"  The  loop,"  he  repeats,  with  a  dog- 
ged persistence. 

"Where  is  it— quick!" 

In  my  anxiety  to  open  the  car  window 
it  jams.  A  passing  car  obstructs  my  view. 

"  You're  on  it,"  he  replies,  dryly, 
withering  me  with  a  glance.  "  It  will  be 
five  cents." 

I  pay  my  fare,  and  reach  the  cold,  un- 
sympathetic pavement,  and  board  a  car 
going  in  the  opposite  direction.  Now 
we  are  passing  through  a  city  canon 
echoing  with  the  roar  of  traffic.  A  horde 
of  people  rushes  past  in  the  gloomy 
shadow  cast  by  great  walls  of  granite, 
groaning  under  tons  of  bastard  orna- 
ment. This  must  be  one  of  the  principal 
thoroughfares,  and  I  ask  my  neighbor 
where  we  are. 

"  Non  capisco,  Signore,"  is  his  polite 
reply.  I  bow  my  thanks  and  turn  to 
my  left. 

"  Could  you  tell  me  what  street 
this  is?" 

"  Bitte,  ich  bin  nur  Heute  hier  an- 
gekommen." 


He  smiles  and  makes  some  primitive 
signs  with  his  hands  and  arms.  I  reply 
by  motions  more  involved,  occasionally 
moving  my  scalp.  We  are  making  little 
headway,  when  I  spy  a  likely  fellow 
sitting  beside  my  new  acquaintance. 
With  suppressed  agitation  I  put  my 
question  to  him. 

"Pardon,  vat  for  you  demande?" 

He  is  anxious  to  help  me.  I  repeat 
slowly,  "  The  name  of  the  street  we 
are  on." 

"  Tiens !  for  sure  vee  go  on — "  he  re- 
plies, reassuringly ;  "  mais  lentement. 
Allez !  Nom  de  Dieu,  on  va  plus  vite 
chez  nous !" 

Then  I  remember  that  Chicago  is 
cosmopolitan.  There  still  remains  the 
man  swinging  on  his  strap  before  me. 
He  is  an  American — unmistakably  Amer- 
ican— and  I  begin  again: 

"Perhaps  you  could  tell  me  what 
street  this  is  ?" 

"How's  that?     I  didn't  quite  get  it?" 

He  leans  far  over,  holding  his  hand 
around  his  ear  in  the  shape  of  a  mega- 
phone. I  repeat  my  question  with  great 
emphasis,  and  his  face  brightens. 

"  Well,"  he  replied,  after  great  de- 
liberation, "  if  the  three-fingered  Wizard 
is  in  the  box,  they'll  make  it  three 
straight  or  I'm  a  ..." 

The  end  of  this  sentence  was  drowned 
by  the  explosions  of  a  passing  auto- 
mobile. 

"  No ;  you've  missed  it,"  I  screamed, 
now  fully  decided  to  make  him  under- 
stand. "  What  street  are  we  on  ?" 

"You  think  so,  eh?  Well,  I'd  like  you 
to  tell  me  how  a  man  is  goin'  to  pitch 
three  games  and  be  strong,  and  ain't 
all  the  others  cripples?" 

There  is  still  my  map,  which  I  have 
overlooked  in  the  excitement.  I  open  it 
with  a  nasty  grimace. 

"Loop  car — all  out!" 

And  there  we  are  again,  a  struggling 
car-load  of  humanity,  scattering  ourselves 


HARPER'S  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 


over  the  street.  A  loop  victim  may  be 
easily  recognized  by  his  childish  petu- 
lance and  overbearing  manner  toward 
his  wife  or  friends  every  time  he  hits 
the  pavement  where  the  car  has  dropped 
him.  To  find  the  loop,  look  for  a  panic- 
stricken  group  of  strangers  groping 
about  in  a  futile  effort  to  find  the  street 
name;  for  in  Chicago  the  latter  may 
turn  up — if  it  does  at  all — in .  the  most 
unexpected  places:  half  obliterated  on 
one  of  the  steel  posts  supporting  the 
trolley  wires,  or,  high  up  somewhere, 
carved  in  weak  relief  on  the  brownstone 
building;  again,  it  may  be  hidden  be- 
neath the  cornice  of  a  building,  or  the 
nearest  basement  may  reveal  something. 
If  not  here,  the  policeman  will  have  it 
in  his  inside  pocket.  To  find  him,  look 
for  the  nearest  "  Family  Entrance." 

The  Chicagoan  is  very  proud  of  the 
loop,  and  will  glow  with  a  sunny  radiance 
the  moment  you  approach  the  subject. 
"  It  is  the  greatest  system  on  earth,"  he 
explained  to  me.  "You  see,  each  car, 
as  it  comes  into  the  city  from  the  sub- 
urbs, goes  immediately  into  the  loop  when 
it  reaches  the  business  section  of  the 
city,  and  returns  along  parallel  lines  to 
the  point  it  started  from.  Do  I  make 
myself  clear?" 

"  Perfectly,"  I  replied,  with  ill-con- 
cealed bitterness.  "  Suppose  that  you 
don't  want  to  return  to  your  starting- 
point,  from  either  domestic  or  busi- 
ness reasons?" 

"  You  don't  have  to ;  get  off." 

"  Yes,  but  the  loop  may  not  be  within 
a  mile  of  my  destination?" 

His  manner  became  somewhat  in- 
tolerant, and  he  added :  "  The  loop  is  near 
enough  for  any  man's  place  of  business. 
You  can  always  walk." 

Strictly  speaking,  the  man  who  has 
no  business  in  this  section  of  the  city 
had  better  look  about  and  arrange  mat- 
ters so  that  he  has,  or  he  has  no  busi- 
ness in  Chicago,  and  certainly  none  on 
the  loop. 

But  it  is  an  ungrateful  pessimist  who 
would  stop  to  find  fault  with  such  in- 
significant details  in  this  breezy  city, 
where  there  is  more  visible,  sensible  in- 
dependence to  the  square  mile  than  in 
all  the  Eastern  cities  put  together.  You 
may  not  like  Chicago — this  will  be  be- 
cause you  are  unfamiliar  with  it — but 


you  must  love  and  respect  the  Chicagoan. 
He  is  the  sanest  and  most  rational  of 
beings;  he  is  contented  with  the  city, 
and  not  anxious  to  persuade  you  to  live 
there.  If  you  do  not  like  him  or  his  city 
or  the  things  contained  therein,  he  is 
democratic  enough  to  tell  you  what  you 
can  .do.  This  attitude  is  the  West,  and 
is  refreshing. 

Patrick  Henry,  with  his  "  Give  me 
liberty  or  give  me  death,"  would  have  a 
dismal  time  to  find  employment  in  this 
happy,  cosmopolitan  community.  I  love 
a  place  where  one  may  show  one's  feel- 
ings in  an  unmistakable  manner.  Chi- 
cago is  the  Arcadia  of  the  man  who  is 
fortunate  enough  to  possess  his  own  con- 
victions. For  an  indication  of  this  latent 
spirit  read  the  enormous  sign  conspic- 
uously displayed  in  the  baseball  park: 
"  The  management  requests  the  earnest 
co-operation  of  its  patrons  in  prevent- 
ing the  throwing  of  glass  bottles  into 
the  field." 

Westward  ho !  for  Gallic  enthusiasm. 
It  will  be  seen  here  that  odds  and  ends — 
scrap-iron,  stones,  or  bricks — which  a 
high-strung,  opinionated  man  is  apt  to 
carry  with  him  as  ballast  to  be  gotten 
rid  of  at  the  propitious  moment,  are 
not  included  in  the  manifesto;  but  after 
all,  a  generous  and  liberal-minded  man- 
agement must  stop  somewhere. 

Even  in  the  smallest  matters  one's  per- 
sonal freedom  has  been  safeguarded. 
Smoking  is  permitted  on  the  front  plat- 
forms of  the  Chicago  street-cars,  so  that 
the  passengers  within  may  get  the  benefit 
of  it  when  the  car  is  in  motion.  But 
here  again  the  Chicagoan  is  ahead  of  us, 
for  we  have  no  smoke  at  all.  The  cau- 
tious person  who  takes  advantage  of  this 
privilege,  and  who  knows  his  Chicago, 
will  have  a  care  to  select  a  decent  brand, 
or  every  man,  woman,  and  child  will 
suspect  that  he  has  been  shaking  dice 
for  his  cigars — lost  his  weekly  allowance, 
and  been  reduced  to  the  humiliating  and 
odious  stogie. 

For  it  should  be  understood  that  in 
Chicago  the  man  with  the  slightest  drop 
of  sporting  blood  in  his  veins  never  de- 
scends to  the  depths  where  he  buys  his 
cigars.  He  shakes  dice  for  them  with 
the  proprietor  of  his  store.  Ask  your 
Chicago  friend  about  this,  and  he  will 
accompany  you  to  '•'  his  place  "  with  the 


Vol.   CXVIII.— No.  7o7.-9i 


MICHIGAN     AVENUE 

Etched  by  C.  H   White 


732 


HARPEK'S  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 


hospitable  air  of  a  man  directing  you  to 
a  foreign  mission.  Should  you  be  friend- 
less in  Chicago,  drop  into  the  first  tobac- 
co store  and  look  for  the  inevitable  green 
baize  cloth  conspicuous  on  the  counter. 
Here  the  new  customer  may  use  strong 
langiiage  and  rattle  the  dice-box  till  his 
hand  shakes. 

So  much  has  been  said  detrimental  to 
this  most  maligned  of  communities  that 
one  comes  here  expecting  to  find  a  great 
city  of  slaughter-houses,  breweries,  and 
mammoth  power-houses,  grouped  about 
a  lake,  in  great  disorder.  It  must  be 
wild,  of  course,  and  with  just  a  touch 
of  that  inevitable  "  woolliness "  insep- 
arable from  the  West  but  difficult  to 
explain.  Then  comes  the  awakening  on 
the  morrow,  when  you  go  out  to  look 
the  place  over  and  find  the  Chicagoaii 
in  possession  of  the  finest  site  for  a 
city  in  America ;  an  incomparable  water- 
front, a  chain  of  parks  unsurpassed  any- 
where, miles  of  beautiful  driveways  skirt- 


FLAG-TOWER  OF   ALMOST    MEDIEVAL   CHARACTER 
Etched  by  C.  H.  White 


ing  the  lake,  and  the  principal  avenue 
of  the  city — the  avenue  of  the  city — 
with  its  clubs  and  great  hotels  overlook- 
ing as  fair  a  sheet  of  water  as  you  will 
find  this  beautiful  land  over — shimmering 
with  faint  emerald  greens  and  blues  and 
losing  itself  in  a  pale  turquoise  horizon 
lightly  smudged  by  the  distant  train  of 
smoke  trailing  behind  the  lake  steamers. 
It  has  also  the  worst  architecture  in. 
America,  and  a  river,  at  first  glance 
commonplace,  yet  revealing  in  its  almost 
momentary  metamorphoses  a  rare  and 
exotic  beauty,  as  it  shapes  its  course  be- 
neath the  network  of  bridges  spanning 
it  at  every  corner,  or  drifts  past  giant 
grain-elevators,  looming  vast  and  ghost- 
like above  its  banks,  alive  with  longshore- 
men toiling  at  the  landing.  It  wanders 
through  neighborhoods  where,  if  the  art- 
ist be  fortunate  enough  to  find  a  motive, 
he  had  better  seize  it  immediately  and 
take  it  home  with  him  or  commit  it  to 
memory  before  the  sun  sets,  for  strange 
things  happen  after 
dark  in  this  barren 
district. 

Of  course  I  did  not 
possess  this  valuable 
knowledge  when  I 
settled  down  for  the 
afternoon  before  a 
flag-tower  of  almost 
medieval  character, 
languidly  leaning 
over  the  street  pre- 
paring for  its  final 
plunge  into  oblivion. 
This  was  my  fore- 
ground, with  a  mid- 
dle distance  of  shan- 
ties and  a  sky-line 
of  distant  towers 
and  embattlements 
worthy  of  San 
Gimignano. 

I  had  just  placed 
a  few  organic  lines 
on  my  copper,  when 
a  voice  behind  me 
said,  "  I've  rayport- 
edit." 

An  Irish  policeman 
towered  above  me. 

"  You've  reported 
what?"  I  asked,  in 
bewilderment. 


CHICAGO. 


733 


"  Turned  in  me  report 
a  week  ago  to  Clancy  at 
the  station-house,"  he  re- 
plied, doggedly  avoiding 
my  question. 

"  I  don't  quite  under- 
stand .  .  ." 

"  Neither  do  I,"  he 
broke  in,  interrupting  me. 
"  I've  said  right  along  it 
ain't  safe  or  proper  to 
have  that  there  tower 
hangin'  over  our  wives 
and  children.  Say — 
ain't  you  on  one  of  . 
the  papers?" 

"  ATo." 

"  Aw,  gowan — quit  yer 
kiddin'." 

He  gave  me  a  playful 
dig  in  the  ribs  and 
chuckled.  "  But  I've  re- 
ported it  just  the  same," 
he  proceeded.  "  I  says, 
'Clancy,'  I  says,  Hake 
it  away,'  I  says,  just 
like  that. 

"  '  Take  nawthin'  away,' 
says  he. 

"  '  Clancy,'  says  I, '  that 
there  tower  is  goin'  to 
take  a  tumble  one  of 
these  days,  and  when  it 
does  there's  goin'  to  be 
a  procession  and  people 
movin'  slow,'  I  says ;  '  and 
if  it's  a  Guiney,  maybe 
there'll  be  a  band  fer 
them  to  march  with,' 
I  savs. 

" '  There'll  be  time 
enough  when  we  hear  the 
music,'  says  he.  But 
don't  you  forget  it,  young 
feller,  I've  reported  it 
all  right." 

With  that  he  left  me 
and  wandered  slowly 
down  the  street. 

On  the  following  day, 
after  a  dismal  half -hour 
groping  about  in   a  futile  effort  to  find 
the  familiar  tower  in  grotesque  silhouette 
against    the    sky,    I    stumbled    upon    a 
small  mound   of  earth,   thinly   sprinkled 
with  sawdust. 

There   could   be   no   possible   doubt   in 


QUINCY   STREET 

Etched  by  C.  H.  White 


my  mind  of  the  magnitude  of  the  catas- 
trophe that  had  taken  place  overnight. 
The  old  tower,  these  many  years  rising 
above  the  sea  of  weather-beaten  roofs  like 
a  lighthouse  to  guide  the  weary,  patient 
workman  as  he  shaped  his  zigzag  course 


HARPEK'S  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 


homeward,  three  sheets  in  the  wind,  on 
Saturday  nights,  was  no  more.  As  I 
stood  sadly  contemplating-  the  ruin  which 
1  in  a  measure  was  responsible  for,  a 
man  in  uniform  waved  to  me  from  across 
the  street. 

"Didn't  I  tell  you  I'd  rayported  it?" 
he  yelled,  and  then  waving  me  a  fare- 
well, took  a  short  cut  through  a  corner 
lot  and  disappeared. 

Even  the  affection  I  cherish  for  those 
homely  suburbs  pales  into  insignificance 
beside  the  memory  of  a  delightful  corner 
I  stumbled  upon  by  accident,  right  in  the 
centre  of  the  city,  yet  swept  by  the  cool 
breezes  of  the  lake.  With  its  lions  gazing 
stolidly  at  the  nondescript  architecture 
before  them,  and  the  weather-beaten, 
grimy  facade,  severe  as  a  Florentine  pal- 
ace, the  place  itself  is  not  particularly 
interesting.  It  is  the  people  one  meets 
of  a  midsummer's  day  loafing  in  the  shade 
on  the  broad  stone  steps  that  lend  an  in- 
terest and  variety  to  the  day's  work,  found 
nowhere  else  in  Chicago.  Here  the  idler 
will  find  a  sociable,  warm-hearted  gather- 
ing of  delightful  but  unemployed  people. 

It  was  on  these  steps  one  morning  that 
there  was  revealed  to  me,  through  the 
medium  of  a  park  policeman,  the  exist- 
ence of  an  interest  so  intense  in  matters 
artistic  that  I  may  say,  if  he  be  an  indica- 
tion of  the  general  trend  of  feeling  in 
the  street,  a  veritable  renaissance  is  at 
hand  in  Chicago. 

He  stood  silently  for  some  time  before 
speaking,  but  I  felt  his  presence  in  the 
agitated  movement  among  the  loafers, 
who,  awakening  from  their  lethargy,  shuf- 
fled rapidly  sideways,  like  crabs,  out  of 
the  danger  zone,  at  his  approach. 

"  I've  never  seen  that  kind  of  work 
done  before,"  he  began,  after  a  long 
scrutiny  at  my  copperplate ;  "  and  I've 
seen  most  of  everything.  I  suppose  that's 
what  you  call  etching." 

I  replied  that  it  was,  and  ventured  a 
few  explanations  concerning  the  process. 

"  Then  you  ought  to  drop  into  the  In- 
stitute and  see  the  Whistlers;  they  have 
some  good  ones." 

This  was  said  simply,  without  any  at- 
tempt to  convey  a  sense  of  his  erudition — 
merely  a  casual  remark  such  as  one  ama- 
teur might  make  to  another.  He  rambled 
along,  quite  innocent  of  the  colossal  im- 
pression he  had  made  on  me,  occasionally 


jarring  me  with  a  query  as  to  the  relative 
merits  of  Diisseldorf,  Munich,  and  Paris. 
Then  without  any  warning  he  said: 

"  Of  course  you  know  Montgomery,  the 
corn  man  ?" 

"  Montgomery  ?" 

"  Yes,  the  corn  man." 

"  Oh — Montgomery  ...  I  see  .  .  .  why, 
of  course  ...  let  me  think  a  moment.  .  ." 

In  desperation  I  groped  about  for  the 
slightest  clew  to  conceal  my  ignorance. 

"  I  thought  you'd  know  him,"  he  con- 
tinued, breaking  in  on  my  reverie  and 
saving  the  situation.  u  He  ain't  much  on 
apples  or  even  backgrounds,  but  when  it 
comes  to  corn — not  on  the  stalk,  mind 
you,  but  on  the  ear  or  off — you've  certain- 
ly got  to  hand  it  to  him.  It  lays  over 
anything  I've  ever  seen.  Just  set  him 
and  others  before  one  or  more  ears  of 
corn — you  can  even  scatter  it  around  loose 
— and  call  time,  and  then  watch  him. 
Why,  he'll  make  Rubens  and  the  rest  of 
them  in  there  look  like  pikers.  No,  sir — 
not  an  artist  for  miles  around  has  any- 
thing on  him,  and  I'd  like  to  bet  my 
shield  he  can  hang  it  on  them  all." 

"  He  must  be  a  wonder!"  I  gasped. 

"  He  is.  I  own  a  couple  of  his  corn 
pieces  and  knew  enough  to  get  in  when 
they  were  low.  Now  they  bring  fancy 
prices."  He  winked  with  profound  sig- 
nificance. "  One  of  them  is  called  Which 
is  Which?  and  has  a  piece  of  real  corn 
tacked  on  the  frame,  and  do  you  know  it 
keeps  3'ou  guessing  to  tell  them  apart. 
Even  the  birds  fall  for  it." 

He  spoke  with  deep  and  genuine  re- 
gret of  his  failure  to  follow  his  brother's 
example,  who  was  a  prosperous  painter 
in  Europe,  and  confessed  that  even  now, 
after  years  on  the  "  force,"  the  smell  of 
turpentine  filled  him  with  a  strange  and 
restless  -yearning,  resulting  in  weeks 
of  protracted  sketching  during  his 
idle  hours. 

When  I  asked  him  for  a  memento  he 
laughed  bashfully  and  put  me  off,  but 
when  I  implored  of  him  the  smallest 
courtesy  one  artist  may  extend  to  a 
brother,  he  removed  his  white  gloves 
and  drew  with  my  fountain  pen  on  the 
back  of  a  visiting-card  a  fantastic  por- 
trait of  what  I  believe  to  be  a  dog — 
executed  with  surprising  rapidity  and 
scarcely  more  than  a  single  stroke  of  the 
pen.  Pressed  to  sign  it,  he  refused  ab- 


K     O 


736 


HARPER'S  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 


solutely — in  fact,  did  his  utmost  to  de- 
stroy it,  but  failing  in  this  he  fled  from 
the  spot  as  if  possessed. 

Never  again  shall  I  find  a  corner  with 
the  same  atmosphere  as  this  comfortable 
niche  with  its  endless  variety  of  life  and 
incident.  Long  before  the  officer  of  the 
law  had  been  swallowed  up  in  the  traffic 
of  Michigan  Avenue  his  place  was  oc- 


LITTLE    ITALY 
Etched  by  C.  H.  White 


cupied  by  a  certain  Mr.  Godson,  whose 
worldly  possessions  at  the  time  I  had 
the  good  fortune  to  make  his  acquaint- 
ance consisted  of  a  good  suit  of  clothes, 
tobacco  and  cigarette  papers,  and  a 
small  penknife. 

Barely  seventeen,  fully  six  feet  tall,  his 
small  head  with  its  piercing  eyes  looked 
ludicrously  out  of  place  on  the  great 
breadth  of  shoulders, 
and  he  shuffled  awk- 
wardly when  he  walk- 
ed. He  emerged  from 
one  of  the  studios  be- 
low for  a  breath  of 
fresh  air,  a  cigarette, 
and  anything  that 
Michigan  A  v  e  n  11  e 
might  offer  in  the  way 
of  diversion,  and  ap- 
peared to  be  on  in- 
timate terms  with  ev- 
erything feminine 
within  a  radius  of 
three  blocks  of  the 
broad  stone  steps. 

As  he  stood  absorbed 
in  my  work,  a  dainty, 
chic,  delightful  little 
girl  rustled  past  smil- 
ing, and  glided  down 
the  steps, .to  disappear 
in  the  crowd  of  shop- 
pers hurrying  past. 

"Gentle  nature — 
city-broke  —  will  eat 
out  of  the  hand,"  he 
observed,  breaking  the 
ice.  "  We  have  some 
peaches  here,"  he  con- 
tinued, flicking  his 
ashes  over  the  coping. 

"  So  I  see,"  I  replied, 
with  enthusiasm. 

"  Yes,  there  are 
bunches  of  them." 

He  stood  lost  in 
a  reverie,  looking 
through  half  -  closed 
lids  at  embattlements 
of  the  new  University 
Club  across  the  street, 
but  his  expression  led 
me  to  believe  his 
thoughts  were  else- 
where. Presently  he 
came  out  with  it. 


GRANT   PARK 

Etched  by  C.  H.  White 


"  Would  you  like  me  to  send  up  a  few  ?" 
"  By  all  means,"  I  gasped,  clasping  the 
hand  of  this  monarch  of  hospitality.  Be- 
fore 1  could  recover  my  equilibrium  his 
lanky  frame  had  disappeared  through  the 
doorway.  His  remark  was  made  in  such 
a  casual,  offhand  manner,  and  his  disap- 
pearance was  so  brisk  and  businesslike, 
that  I  was  completely  at  sea  as  to  his 
intentions.  After  all,  I  reasoned,  one  does 
not  make  a  consignment  of  females  in 
the  same  manner  as  one  might  send  up 
a  basket  of  fruit  on  approval.  Certainly 
this  was  a  new  experience,  and  I  worked 
along  in  silence,  following  with  my 
needle,  to  the  best  of  my  ability,  the  in- 
tricacies of  the  facade  opposite. 

It  may  have  been  five  minutes  that  I 
sat  absorbed  in  my  work,  when  a  light 
footstep  at  my  right  brought  me  back 
with  a  jump  to  our  previous  conversation. 
Two  young  ladies  stood  giggling  in  the 
shadow  of  the  archway,  very  conscious  of 
my  scrutiny.  Was  this  merely  coinci- 
dence, or  could  it  be  that  the  inimitable 
Godson  had  .  .  .  ?  No.  I  dismissed  the 
idea  as  preposterous.  As  I  watched  they 
were  soon  joined  by  a  third  and  a  fourth, 
forming  with  their  great  hats,  fluttering 
with  plumes,  a  charming  group,  relieved 
against  the  gray  stone  background.  An 
embarrassing  pause  was  broken  by  the 
arrival  of  another — a  lithe  little  figure  in 


a  buff-colored  gown,  who  from  the  nod- 
ding plumes  of  her  pictiare  hat  to  the 
dainty  shoes  with  their  big  bows — crisp 
and  chic — was  the  embodiment  of  grace 
and  femininity.  For  a  moment  they 
stood  in  suppressed  agitation,  on  the  point 
of  retreating,  and  I  was  preparing  heroic 
measures  to  save  the  situation,  when 
above  the  pretty  group  loomed  a  great 
pair  of  shoulders,  topped  by  a  small  head 
illuminated  by  an  infectious  smile.  It 
was  Godson !  And  at  a  signal  from  him 
the  squad  moved  forward  with  a  flutter 
to  join  me. 

When  they  had  retired  after  the  cus- 
tomary platitudes,  I  seized  him  and  de- 
manded an  immediate  explanation  of  the 
strange  power  that  enabled  him  to  ac- 
complish miracles. 

"  Why,  it's  a  cinch,"  he  replied,  mod- 
estly. "  I  hiked  down  to  the  studio  be- 
low and  said,  '  You  girls  had  better  chase 
up-stairs  and  see  the  guy  who  got  the  only 
gold  medal  given  at  the  last  Paris  Salon, 
working  on  his  plate  for  the  French  gov- 
ernment.' Those  hen  artists  will  fall  for 
anything.  You  know,  I'm  just  taking  up 
art  for  an  accomplishment — only  been 
here  three  months,  and  you  can  bet 
I've  not  been  losing  any  time!  I  leave 
for  Dartmouth  next  week,  but  I've  cer- 
tainly been  busy  while  I've  been  here. 
Art  is  great!" 


738  HARPER'S  MONTHLY  MAGAZINE. 

He  rolled  another  cigarette,  and  as  the  and  tilting  his  lanky  frame  at  a  perilous 

diminutive  buff-colored  figure  reappeared,  angle  to  hear  what  she  said,  drifted  out 

stopping  for  an  instant  to  adjust  her  veil,  of  my  life  in  the  restless  tide  of  people 

and  then  moved  lightly  down  the  steps,  that  flows  at  midday  and  ebbs  at  night 

he    waved    a    greeting,    shook   my    hand,  along  Michigan  Avenue.     Art,  after  all, 

pulled  his  cuffs  down,  caught  up  with  her,  has  its  compensations. 


Song    of    the    Earthlings 

BY    RICHARD    BURTON 

OUT  of  the  earth  we  came. 
Into  the  earth  we  go : 
Our  aim  leaped  high  like  flame, 
But  Time  has  brought  vis  low. 

Under  the  clustered  trees 

Dreams  we  dreamt  a  score; 
By  headlands  of  splendid  seas 

We   ravaged   and   sung  and  swore. 

Amid  the  cities  of  men 

We  thrilled  to  Life's  various  quest; 
Very  far  from  us  then 

The   thought   that   slumber   is  best. 

Sun  and  moon  and  stars 

Lighted  us  on  our  way: 
Happy,  we  took  our  scars, 

Happy,  we  earned  our  pay. 

Light-foot  creatures  were  we, 
Each  bent  on  his  own  device; 

Love  or  war,  par-die, 

At  the  throw  of  the  loaden  dice. 

One  thing,  only  one, 

Utterly  passed  us  by: 
That  when  our  day  was  done 

We  must  cease,   O  mates,  and  die! 

But  out  of  the  earth  we  come, 

And  into  the  earth  we  go; 
Our  shame  alike  with  our  fame, 

Old  Time  has  laid  them  low. 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN   OF  CHICAGO 


417 


"No,  you  can't.  If  God  Almighty 
had  allowed  Himself  to  fall  in  love  with 
you  and  me,  Jinny,  He  could  n't  have 
made  us  all  alive  and  kicking.  You  must 
be  God  Almighty  to  Hambleby,  or  he 
won't  kick." 

"Does  n't  he  kick?" 

"Oh,  Lord,  yes!  You  have  n't  gone 
in  deep  enough  to  stop  him.  I  'm  only 
warning  you  against  a  possible  danger. 
It  's  always  a  possible  danger  when  I  'm 
not  there  to  look  after  you." 


He  rose.  "Anything,"  he  said,  "is 
possible  when  I  'm  not  there." 

She  rose  also.  Their  hands  and  their 
eyes  met. 

"That  's  it,"  she  said;  "you  were  n't 
there,  and  you  won't  be." 

"You  're  wrong,"  said  he,  "I  Ve  al- 
ways been  there  wrhen  you  wanted  me." 

With  that  he  left  her.  And  he  had 
not  said  a  word  about  his  wife. 

Neither,  for  that  matter,  had  Jane.  She 
wondered  why  she  had  not. 


(To  be  continued) 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN 
OF  CHICAGO 

WITH  REMARKS  ON  CITY- PLANNING  IN  GENERAL 

BY  CHARLES  W.  ELIOT 

President  Emeritus  of  Harvard  University 


FOR  three  years  the  Commercial  Club 
of  Chicago  has  been  spending  much 
time  and  money  on  the  preparation  of  a 
comprehensive  plan  for  the  improvement 
of  Chicago  as  a  center  of  industry  and 
traffic,  and  as  a  wholesome  and  enjoyable 
place  of  residence  for  two  millions  of  peo- 
ple, or,  indeed,  for  four  or  five  millions. 
This  Plan  has  now  been  published  in  a 
handsome  quarto,  with  numerous  illustra- 
tions and  a  full  descriptive  text,  under  the 
title,  "Plan  of  Chicago."  It  is  a  work 
which  demanded  intelligence,  public  spirit, 
and  foresight,  all  in  a  high  degree ;  for  it 
deals  writh  the  physical  and  moral  condi- 
tions necessary  to  the  future  success  of  a 
great  American  city  which  has  a  central 
position,  great  natural  facilities  for  steam 
and  electric  transportation,  and  ample  op- 
portunities for  the  artificial  development 
of  the  means  of  a  productive  and  enjoyable 
life  for  millions  of  people. 

It  is  to  be  said  of  this  Plan,  in  the  first 


place,  that  it  is  the  result  of  a  systematic 
study,  carried  on  during  a  period  of  thirty 
months  by  committees  of  the  Commercial 
Club,  aided  by  architects,  engineers,  land- 
scape architects,  railroad  experts,  and  other 
competent  advisers — skilful  men,  some  of 
whom  have  been  employed  during  the  last 
three  years,  and  some  of  whom  studied  the 
great  problem  of  Chicago  in  earlier  years 
and  left  available  records  of  their  achieve- 
ments or  their  recommendations.  The  pro- 
moter of  this  great  work  is  an  organiza- 
tion of  business  men,  who  naturally  have 
in  view  chiefly  the  manufacturing  and 
commercial  interests  of  the  city,  though 
they  are  also  keenly  alive  to  the  fact  that  a 
vast  laboring  population  cannot  be  main- 
tained in  an  efficient  condition  unless  they 
are  provided  with  convenient,  comfortable, 
and  prompt  means  of  transportation  both 
for  themselves  and  for  their  food  and 
clothing,  and  are  also  supplied  with  light, 
airy  streets  and  dwellings,  wholesome 


418 


THE   CENTURY  MAGAZINE 


schools,  factories,  and  shops,  ample  open 
spaces, — playgrounds,  gardens,  parks,  park- 
ways, and  sheets  of  water, — and  the  means 
of  mental  pleasure  and  progress.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Club  has  caused  to  be  studied  not 
only  transportation  from  afar  by  land  and 
water,  but  also  new  or  enlarged  channels 
of  circulation  within  the  city ;  suburban 
transit  facilities,  with  a  system  of  high- 
ways for  the  entire  territory  within  sixty 
miles ;  the  park  system  ;  the  proper  location 
of  the  literary,  artistic,  and  scientific  es- 
tablishments of  the  city;  and  the  appropri- 
ate architectural  treatment  of  a  group  of 
great  buildings  for  public  purposes  in  the 
heart  of  the  city.  The  Club  has  therefore 
taken  thought  not  only  for  the  business 
interests  of  Chicago,  but  for  the  public 
health,  and  for  the  development  by  the 
municipality  of  those  tastes,  habits,  and 
capacities  in  the  population  which  promote 
the  artistic  industries  and  the  enjoyment 
of  urban  life.  The  Plan  is  not  carried  out 
in  too  great  detail,  and  yet  it  presents  a 
complete  ideal  of  civic  conditions  which 
unite  beauty  and  dignity  with  permanent 
convenience  and  the  economical  use  of  all 
forces,  human,  mechanical,  and  animal, 
which  contribute  to  the  total  welfare  and 
efficiency  of  the  population. 

Although  the  Plan  may  justly  be  de- 
scribed as  an  ideal,  it  is  very  far  from  be- 
ing impracticable.  Indeed,  the  Club  main- 
tains that  it  is  thoroughly  practicable ;  that 
is,  that  it  can  be  executed,  without  seri- 
ousljr  increasing  the  present  burden  of  tax- 
ation, by  bond  issues  which  the  growth  of 
the  city  will  fully  justify.  It  maintains 
that  the  execution  of  the  Plan  would  stim- 
ulate the  increase  of  Chicago's  wealth  not 
in  an  exaggerated  and  transient  way,  but 
in  a  rational,  steady,  and  permanent  way. 

The  mode  in  which  this  Plan  has  been 
prepared  is  not  without  significance  for 
students  of  democracy.  History  tells  how 
Pericles  beautified  Athens ;  Augustus, 
Rome;  Louis  XIV  and  his  architects, 
Paris;  and  Napoleon  III  and  Haussmann, 
Paris  for  a  second  time.  These  were  rulers 
and  governors,  who  set  on  foot  great  pub- 
lic works  for  making  cities  already  old 
more  convenient,  wholesome,  and  beautiful. 
It  is  interesting  to  see  an  organization  of 
business  men  —  in  this  instance  the  Com- 
mercial Club  of  Chicago — undertake  simi- 
lar planning  for  the  improvement  of  an 
American  city  whose  phenomenal  growth 


has  not  been  guided  by  far-looking  intelli- 
gence, but  has  rather  been  casual,  or  deter- 
mined by  urgent  needs  of  the  moment,  or 
by  the  desires  of  individual  men  or  single 
corporations,  acting  without  attention  to 
the  broad  industrial  and  social  needs.  We 
here  see  in  action  democratic  enlightened 
collectivism  coming  in  to  repair  the  dam- 
age caused  by  exaggerated  democratic  in- 
dividualism. 

This  Plan  suggests  on  nearly  every  page 
the  urgent  need  of  combining  differing  in- 
dividual interests  for  a  common  end,  of 
procuring  the  cooperation  of  competing 
corporations,  and  of  bringing  to  bear  the 
public  opinion  of  the  multitude  to  effect 
the  execution  of  the  Plan.  It  suggests,  in 
short,  a  large  social  or  collective  work, 
planned  in  the  interest  not  only  of  the 
present  generation,  but  of  many  genera- 
tions to  come.  That  a  club  of  business 
men  should  have  engaged  in  such  an  un- 
dertaking, and  have  brought  it  successfully 
to  its  present  stage,  affords  a  favorable 
illustration  of  the  working  of  the  Amer- 
ican democracy.  The  democracy  is  not 
going  to  be  dependent  on  the  rare  appear- 
ance of  a  Pericles,  an  Augustus,  a  Colbert, 
or  a  Christopher  Wren.  It  will  be  able 
to  work  toward  the  best  ideals  through  the 
agency  of  groups  of  intelligent  and  public- 
spirited  citizens  who  know  how  to  employ 
experts  to  advantage. 

Within  the  last  sixty  years,  applied  sci- 
ence has  convinced  all  thinking  men  that 
the  first  things  to  be  provided  when  human 
beings  crowd  in  large  numbers  into  a  lim- 
ited area,  and  create  a  city  or  large  town, 
are  an  ample  supply  of  pure  water  and  an 
effective  system  of  drainage  for  the  soil 
and  for  all  the  structures  put  upon  it. 
Now,  Chicago  had  already  provided  itself 
with  an  abundance  of  good  water,  and 
with  an  effective  system  of  drainage,  be- 
fore the  Commercial  Club  entered  upon 
its  work  of  preparing  a  plan  for  the  im- 
provement of  the  city.  The  drainage  canal 
and  the  city  sewers  have  been  completed  at 
a  cost  of  sixty  million  dollars,  and  the 
sewage  of  the  city  having  been  diverted 
from  the  lake,  an  inexhaustible  supply  of 
good  water  can  be  obtained  from  that 
source.  These  two  great  problems,  there- 
fore, are  not  dealt  with  in  the  Club's  plan. 
Most  large  American  cities  have  already 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  satisfactory  water- 
supply  and  effective  means  of  disposing  of 


HICACO 


Copyright,  1909,  by  Ihe  Commercial  Club  of  Chicago 

DIAGRAM   OF   EXTERIOR   HIGHWAYS  ENCIRCLING  CHICAGO 
AND   RADIATING    FROM    THE  CITY 


their  sewage.  Thanks  to  the  hydraulic 
engineers  who  have  shown  how  to  filter 
both  water  and  sewage,  and  to  coagulate 
or  precipitate  the  silt  held  in  suspension  in 
flowing  streams,  cities  have  only  to  con- 
sider how  they  can  raise  the  money  needed 
to  procure  a  good  water-supply  and  an 
effective  sewerage  plant.  Chicago,  how- 
ever, will  probably  be  involved  before 
long  in  additional  expenditures  on  sewer- 
age. High  buildings  concentrate  people  to 
such  a  degree  that  larger  sewers  are  needed 
in  the  streets  on  which  they  are  permitted. 
Moreover,  it  must  be  confessed  that  an 
open  drainage  canal  is  rather  a  barbarous 
way  of  disposing  of  sewage. 

The  first  thing  that  strikes  one  in  the 
studies  which  have  led  to  this  new  Plan  is 
the  comprehensive  definition  the  Commer- 
cial Club  has  given  to  the  city,  geographi- 
cally considered.  The  Plan  extends  to  all 
the  territory  within  a  radius  of  sixty  miles 
from  the  heart  of  Chicago,  and  considers 
all  the  territory  within  that  semicircum- 
ference  as  having  definite  relations  with 
the  future  city.  The  creation  of  a  metro- 


politan commission  for  the  management  of 
this  entire  area  is  recommended  ;  but  pend- 
ing the  creation  of  such  a  commission,  the 
public  authorities  and  the  improvement 
associations  of  every  town  are  advised  to 
confer  with  their  neighbors,  and  agree  on 
the  routes  of  the  connecting  highways,  the 
width  and  arrangement  of  the  roadways, 
sidewalks,  and  planting  spaces,  and  the 
varieties  of  trees  and  shrubs  to  be  used  for 
shade  and  ornament.  The  object  of  this 
commission  should  be  to  arrange  direct 
highways  leading  from  all  the  outlying 
towns  to  Chicago  as  their  center,  and  also 
to  connect  the  suburban  towns  one  with 
another  by  well-built  and  well-maintained 
roads  of  a  width  appropriate  to  the  amount 
of  traffic  thereon.  For  the  making  of  these 
roads,  State  or  county  and  town  or  city 
should  cooperate,  as  has  been  done  for 
many  years  in  Massachusetts.  In  laying 
out  routes,  no  heavy  grades  or  sharp  curves 
should  be  tolerated,  and  wherever  auto- 
mobiles are  used,  the  very  best  bed  and 
surface  should  be  provided  as  a  measure  of 
economy.  In  the  diagram  (see  above) 

,„ 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 


421 


the  encircling  and  the  radiating  high- 
ways are  both  delineated,  and  the  links 
not  yet  in  existence  are  indicated  by  dot- 
ted lines.  It  is  apparent  that  the  com- 
bined mileage  of  the  gaps  is  comparatively 
small,  so  that  the  execution  of  this  design 
would  not  be  costly.  The  gaps  in  the  radi- 
ating highways  are  fewer  and  shorter  than 
the  gaps  in  the  encircling,  yet  at  present 
they  are  serious  impediments  to  adequate 
communication. 

Why  should  Chicago  plan  for  good 
means  of  communication  over  so  large  a 
suburban  area?  Because  electric  roads, 
the  telephone,  smooth  highways,  and  the 
automobile  have  already  extended  very 
much  the  residential  area  about  most  great 
business  centers,  and  because  the  interests 
of  the  city  and  of  the  suburban  area  about 
it  are  identical  so  far  as  means  of  commu- 
nication are  concerned.  Cooperative  action 
on  the  part  of  many  distinct  municipalities 
is  twenty  years  old  in  Massachusetts. 
That  State,  in  the  period  from  1889  to 
1893,  created  a  Metropolitan  Sewerage 
Commission  and  a  Metropolitan  Park 
Commission,  which  had  jurisdiction  over 
more  than  thirty  distinct  municipalities, 
to  the  very  great  advantage  of  Boston 
and  the  adjoining  towns  and  cities,  the 
actual  work  of  construction  and  main- 
tenance having  been  well  done  under  the 
direction  of  these  two  commissions  ap- 
pointed by  the  governor.  In  like  manner, 
the  State  used  its  credit  to  provide  a  group 
of  municipalities  in  eastern  Massachusetts, 
including  Boston,  with  an  admirable 
water-supply.  All  these  public  works  have 
been  executed  at  the  ultimate  cost  of  the 
municipalities  concerned  ;  but  the  directing 
force  has  been  in  every  case  a  State-ap- 
pointed commission. 

This  is  the  sort  of  public  works  which 
the  Plan  of  Chicago  wisely  contemplates 
for  a  large  area  quite  outside  the  limits  of 
the  present  city ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  wisest 
parts  of  the  Plan;  for  a  great  city  cannot 
get  satisfactorily  executed  the  public  works 
it  urgently  needs  unless  it  takes  into  view  all 
the  territory  within  at  least  an  hour's  quick 
ride  of  its  civic  center.  It  cannot  even 
maintain  an  equitable  method  of  taxation, 
if  it  is  limited  for  taxing  purposes  to  the 
area  on  which  its  daily  business  is  con- 
ducted. The  men  who  earn  their  liveli- 
hood within  the  narrow  city  limits,  but 
live  in  some  suburb,  pay  most  of  their 


taxes  in  the  suburb.  They  are  constantly 
using  facilities  which  the  city  pays  for,  but 
contribute  very  little  to  the  cost  of  those 
facilities.  The  whole  surrounding  coun- 
try within  thirty  or  sixty  miles  finds  its 
markets  and  its  supplies  in  the  city,  and 
the  welfare  of  the  city  is  of  near  concern 
to  the  whole  surrounding  territory. 

The  modern  necessities  of  a  large  city, 
and  the  new  influence  of  a  great  center  of 
trade  and  manufacturing  on  the  whole 
territory  within  easy  reach  by  steam,  elec- 
tricity, or  gasolene  vapor,  have  made  it  in- 
expedient for  the  legal  city  to  govern  itself 
in  the  old-fashioned  way  within  its  narrow 
geographical  limits.  In  many  respects  it 
ought  not  to  govern  itself ;  for  both  its  in- 
terests and  its  influence  extend  far  beyond 
its  charter  limits,  and  include  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  persons  who  do  not  live 
within  them.  In  these  days  it  is  much 
more  rational  and  equitable  for  a  State  to 
govern  its  cities,  and  particularly  its  prin- 
cipal city,  than  it  is  for  each  city  to  govern 
itself  through  its  own  voting  population. 
Indeed,  the  States  do  already  govern  their 
cities  in  most  respects;  for  it  is  the  State 
legislature  which  grants  every  city  charter, 
and  therein  determines  the  form  of  the  city 
government  and  its  powers.  Local  self- 
government  for  cities,  without  control  or 
regulation  from  the  State,  is  already  a 
thing  of  the  past,  and  it  is  the  progress  of 
applied  science  that  has  made  that  self- 
government  inadequate  and  undesirable. 
The  Commercial  Club  declares  that  a 
complete  interurban  highway  system  can 
be  executed  cheaply;  that  widening  those 
portions  of  the  roadways  which  need  to  be 
widened,  straightening  the  few  which  need 
that  treatment,  planting  trees  along  the 
highways,  and  macadamizing  the  road- 
beds, are  improvements  which  would  in- 
volve an  expense  small  in  comparison  with 
the  gain  to  the  public  in  convenience  and 
economy  of  service.  What  is  needed  is  a 
strong  organization  of  active  men  prepared 
to  take  intelligent,  concerted  action. 

The  Plan  deals  next  with  the  Chicago 
Park  System.  In  1869  a  movement  was 
started  to  establish  a  series  of  parks  and 
boulevards,  beginning  at  Lincoln  Park  on 
the  north,  and  ending  at  Jackson  Park  on 
the  south.  This  attempt  measurably  suc- 
ceeded ;  so  that  in  the  seventies  Chicago 
was  better  provided  with  parks  than  any 
city  in  the  country  except  Philadelphia,  al- 


=  a 

•ga, 


X       O  fj 

^     c'Si 


. 
o& 


"    V 

Q    E  S 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 


423 


though  they  were  not  very  well  maintained 
and  utilized.  Since  that  time  no  effective 
action  has  been  taken  for  increasing  the 
park  areas  in  proportion  to  the  largely  in- 
creased population.  Within  the  last  eight 
years,  seventeen  small  parks  have  been  es- 
tablished on  the  south  side  of  Chicago, 
with  a  neighborhood  house  in  each  con- 
taining the  ordinary  equipment  of  a  good 
club-house.  This  provision  on  the  south 
side  is  expected  to  cost  about  seven  million 
dollars.  The  Plan  suggests  that  as  far  as 
possible  the  smaller  parks  be  placed  on  the 
proposed  circuit  boulevards.  Larger  parks 
for  sports  are  projected,  all  of  which  are 
to  be  in  a  strict  sense  neighborhood  centers, 
and  are  to  be  connected  with  one  another 
by  a  continuous  line  of  planting.  They 
are  evenly  distributed  round  the  civic 
center. 

A  special  Park  Commission,  created  by 
the  Chicago  City  Council  in  1899,  pre- 
sented a  report  in  1904  which  contained  a 
detailed  study  for  the  Metropolitan  Park 
System,  together  with  recommendations 
for  an  outer  system  of  parks  and  boule- 
vards, following  in  the  main  the  water- 
courses throughout  the  county.  The  time 
to  secure  the  lands  necessary  for  such  a 
system  is  the  present  moment;  for  every 
year  of  delay  will  increase  the  cost,  and 
diminish  the  opportunities  for  obtaining 
large  areas,  since  all  the  lands  about  Chi- 
cago are  almost  equally  available  for  build- 
ing purposes. 

To  provide  large  breathing-spaces  and 
numerous  recreation-grounds  is  only  a 
measure  of  reasonable  precaution  against 
the  evils  which  result  from  density  of  pop- 
ulation. The  opportunity  to  enjoy  fresh 
air  and  the  various  beauty  of  grass,  trees, 
and  shrubs,  and  of  lakes,  ponds,  and 
streams,  is  an  incidental  advantage  of  park 
creation ;  but  the  primary  motive  is  the 
promotion  of  the  people's  health  and  effi- 
ciency. If  hundreds  of  thousands  of  work- 
ers are  to  be  kept  in  health  and  strength 
for  productive  industries,  they  must  be 
provided  with  the  means  of  wholesome 
pleasures  in  the  open  air.  The  vice  and 
disease  which  result  from  overcrowding, 
and  from  the  lack  of  the  means  of  innocent 
and  wholesome  pleasures,  are  great  drains 
on  the  vitality  and  economic  productive- 
ness of  an  urban  population.  In  order  to 
conserve  the  productive  powers  of  the  pop- 
ulation, any  intelligent  government  will 


do  its  utmost  to  prevent  sicknesses  and 
premature  deaths. 

The  lay-out  of  a  city  which  is  to  be  suc- 
cessful from  the  business  point  of  view 
must  therefore  provide  adequate  parks, 
gardens,  playgrounds,  and  sheets  of  water, 
with  ornamented  parkways  which  afford 
pleasant  access  to  the  open  spaces.  The 
"Plan  of  Chicago"  prints  plans  of  the 
park  systems  about  Berlin,  Vienna,  Wash- 
ington, Versailles,  and  portions  of  Paris, 
with  a  view  to  stimulate  the  citizens  and 
governors  of  Chicago  to  like  intelligent 
action.  The  Plan  points  out  in  detail  the 
opportunities  for  park  areas  which,  when 
combined,  will  entirely  surround  the  Chi- 
cago of  the  future.  The  encircling  system 
of  forest  parks  and  parkways  outlined  in 
the  Plan,  taken  in  connection  with  the  ex- 
isting boulevards  and  the  proposed  drive- 
way along  the  lake,  would  make  a  circuit 
of  about  a  hundred  miles,  every  portion  of 
which  could  be  made  to  serve  directly  a 
considerable  part  of  the  population.  Such 
a  system  is  for  the  Chicago  of  to-day  quite 
as  practical  as  were  the  boulevards  of  a 
generation  ago,  which  have  now  become 
interior  thoroughfares  of  priceless  value. 
It  is  altogether  probable  that  the  rise  in 
the  value  of  the  adjoining  lands  will  cover 
many  times  over  the  present  cost  of  the 
reservations.  It  cannot  be  repeated  too 
often  that  this  provision  should  be  made 
in  the  interest  of  Chicago  as  a  great  indus- 
trial and  commercial  center,  and  a  great 
market  for  human  labor.  Hereafter  it  is 
going  to  be  the  pecuniary  interest  of  every 
great  city  to  make  the  life  of  its  laborers 
wholesome  and  pleasurable,  and  therefore 
attractive  to  new-comers.  It  is  rather 
strange  that  Europe  should  understand 
this  economic  principle  better  than  Amer- 
ica. 

The  Plan  of  course  proposes  that  the 
whole  lake  front  should  be  converted  into 
a  public  park.  The  lake  is  the  chief  adorn- 
ment of  Chicago,  and  its  shore  is  the  only 
place  from  which  Chicago  people  can  get 
an  unobstructed  view  of  it.  The  Plan  says 
eloquently : 

The  Lake  is  living  water,  ever  in  motion 
and  ever  changing  in  color  and  in  the  form 
of  its  waves.  Across  its  surface  comes  the 
broad  pathway  of  light  made  by  the  rising 
sun;  it  mirrors  the  ever-changing  forms  of 
the  clouds,  and  it  is  illumined  by  the  glow  of 


6  8 


5   o  -5  5 


'a  U  .*•! 

*p  ^  " 

U  p  D    4> 

-  ^  *-  '/^ 


w  -  = 

^    -a.is 


I   o  |g 
•J    o   «| 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 


425 


the  evening  sky.  Its  colors  vary  with  the 
shadows  that  play  upon  it.  In  its  every 
aspect  it  is  a  living  thing,  delighting  man's 
eye  and  refreshing  his  spirit.  Not  a  foot  of 
its  shores  should  be  appropriated  to  individ- 
uals, to  the  exclusion  of  the  people.  On  the 
contrary,  everything  possible  should  be  done 
to  enhance  its  attractiveness  and  to  develop 
its  natural  beauties,  thus  fitting  it  for  the 
part  it  has  to  play  in  the  life  of  the  whole 
city. 

The  Plan  proposes  that  narrow,  winding 
lagoons  should  be  created  along  the  north 
shore,  and  somewhat  wider  ones  along  the 
south  shore.  Both  margins  of  these  la- 
goons should  be  planted  with  trees  and 
shrubs,  and  should  display  every  form  and 
color  of  foliage  and  blossom  which  will 
thrive  on  a  shore  subjected  at  times  to 
wind,  sleet,  and  ice.  The  entire  construc- 
tion of  the  Lake-front  Park  could  be 
cheaply  executed  with  the  city  ashes  and 
other  waste  within  thirty  or  forty  years, 
when  once  the  necessary  breakwaters  have 
been  built.  Many  kinds  of  water  and  ice 
sports  could  be  provided  for  in  this  Lake- 
front  Park,  and  good  driveways  would 
accompany  it  from  one  end  to  the  other. 
The  winter  sports  in  such  a  park  would  be 
almost  as  interesting  and  profitable  as 
those  of  the  summer. 

The  next  problem  the  Plan  deals  with  is 
the  problem  of  handling  the  railroad  traf- 
fic with  despatch,  and  at  the  lowest  cost. 
It  states  strongly  the  imperative  need  of  a 
traffic  clearing-house.  It  shows  that  Chi- 
cago does  not  now  possess  proper  terminal 
facilities ;  and  that  it  is  already  impossible 
to  obtain  them,  if  every  railroad  is  to  at- 
tempt to  maintain  a  separate  system,  unre- 
lated to  any  other  system  except  by  the 
connection  of  the  tracks.  Another  diffi- 
culty, common  in  American  cities,  must  be 
overcome.  The  bad  habit  of  hauling  all 
the  freight  into  the  heart  of  a  city,  and 
then  hauling  much  of  it  out  again,  must  be 
cured.  Freight  stations  and  yards  placed 
close  to  the  business  district  of  a  city  must 
be  exchanged  for  much  larger  areas  com- 
paratively remote  from  the  center.  The 
Plan  presents  two  diagrams,  one  represent- 
ing the  present  method  of  handling  and 
exchanging  freight  on  railroads  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  city,  the  other  a  proposed  method 
of  handling  and  exchanging  freight  by 
means  of  a  belt-line  and  large  clearing- 


yards.  It  is  obvious  that  the  new  scheme 
requires  of  the  twenty-two  roads  that  now 
enter  Chicago  an  effectual  cooperation  in 
a  spirit  of  mutual  forbearance  and  good 
will  for  the  sake  of  promoting  the  general 
good.  The  Plan  distinctly  proposes  that 
every  road  shall  do  its  full  part  to  bring 
about  transportation  conditions  essential  to 
the  continued  prosperity  of  the  city.  All 
the  American  cities  which  are  railroad 
centers  have  similar  problems  before  them. 
They  must  all  reduce  the  heavy  terminal 
costs,  and  provide  against  the  periodical 
congestions  of  freight  at  junctions  and  ter- 
minals which  now  paralyze  business,  and 
prevent  the  railroad  companies  from  mak- 
ing adequate  use  of  their  own  rolling-stock 
and  main  lines. 

Chicago  has  great  advantages  for  the 
invention  of  a  profitable  method  of  freight 
exchange,  or,  in  other  words,  for  the  crea- 
tion of  a  traffic  clearing-house,  because  the 
country  surrounding  Chicago  is  flat,  so 
that  the  railroads  have  no  steep  grades  or 
narrow  approaches  to  deal  with.  It  will 
not  be  hard  to  arrange  the  great  ware- 
houses of  the  city  with  reference  to  the 
interchange  tracks,  underground,  over- 
head, and  surface.  If  the  freight  trains  of 
all  the  twenty-two  roads  could  be  handled 
quickly,  and  unloaded  and  reloaded  rap- 
idly outside  of  the  most  crowded  districts 
of  the  city,  an  enormous  saving  would  re- 
sult every  year.  The  best  opinion  seems  to 
be  that  only  five  per  cent,  of  the  freight 
traffic  of  Chicago  is  water-borne.  Never- 
theless, in  connection  with  the  traffic  clear- 
ing-yards there  should  be  a  harbor  at  the 
mouth  of  each  of  the  two  rivers,  the  Chi- 
cago and  the  Calumet.  There  are  several 
indispensable  elements  in  the  complete 
machine  for  the  transportation  of  goods 
for  Chicago,  the  traffic  clearing-yards,  the 
two  harbors,  and  the  connecting  lines, 
underground  or  overhead.  If  the  present 
congestion  in  the  heart  of  the  city  were  to 
be  effectively  relieved  through  the  working 
of  this  great  machine,  many  important  in- 
cidental benefits  would  result.  The  pave- 
ments would  last  longer,  the  smoke  nui- 
sance would  be  mitigated,  there  would  be 
less  crowding  on  the  streets  and  sidewalks, 
and  there  would  be  less  dirt,  hurry,  and 
waste  of  time  and  energy. 

The  Plan  throughout  recognizes  the  fact 
that  Chicago  has  been  created  chiefly  by 
its  railroads,  and  that  its  future  prosperity 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 


427 


is  dependent  upon  them.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  railroads  realize  that  it  is  in 
vain  to  perfect  car  and  track  service  un- 
less the  facilities  for  handling  freight  at 
the  terminals  promptly  and  cheaply  keep 
pace  with  that  perfecting.  American  rail- 
roads have  already  straightened  their  lines, 
reduced  their  grades,  built  additional 
tracks  on  their  rights  of  way,  and  abol- 
ished many  grade  crossings,  thus  effecting 
large  savings  in  operating  expenses ;  but 
they  have  not  attempted  the  traffic  clear- 
ing-house in  the  large  city. 

The  "Plan  of  Chicago"  proposes  that 
the  passenger-lines  which  enter  the  densely 
inhabited  parts  of  the  city  should  not  cross 
one  another  or  carriage  roads  at  grade,  and 
that  terminal  stations  in  the  city  should  be 
either  above  or  below  the  street  levels.  It 
also  suggests  that  the  railroads  should  take 
great  pains,  as  in  Europe,  to  make  their 
rights  of  way  tidy  and  pleasing  to  the  eye, 
and  to  diminish  the  noise  on  underground, 
surface,  and  elevated  roads  alike.  The  ex- 
isting evil  of  noise  is  very  great,  and  in 
large  part  unnecessary.  Irritating  noises, 
ugly  sights,  bad  smells,  dusty  or  muddy 
streets,  and  ill-ventilated  workshops  and 
offices  all  tend  to  lower  the  efficiency  of 
the  population  at  work.  A  great  city 
should  be  quiet,  clean,  spacious,  light,  and 
airy,  in  order  to  promote  the  working  effi- 
ciency of  its  people.  In  such  a  city  all 
work  would  be  done  better  and  to  larger 
profit.  The  Plan  shows  how  this  desirable 
result  may  be  accomplished.  It  does  not 
fail  to  point  out,  with  regard  to  the  pas- 
senger-traffic, that  the  embellishment  of 
stations  and  station  grounds,  which  began 
in  this  country  on  the  Boston  and  Albany 
and  the  Pennsylvania  roads,  is  due  from 
roads  to  their  passengers,  and  particularly 
to  suburban  passengers.  The  roads  can 
afford  to  pay  more  attention  to  the  inter- 
ests of  their  passengers  in  this  respect, 
because  passengers  load  and  unload  them- 
selves. 

A  good  plan  for  a  large  city  should  al- 
ways contain  three  sorts  of  highway :  first, 
the  ordinary  streets  on  which  houses  and 
shops  are  built ;  secondly,  the  avenue,  on 
which  strong  tides  of  traffic  flow  back  and 
forth;  and  thirdly,  the  boulevard,  which  is 
a  combination  of  a  narrow  park  with 
driveways  and  footpaths.  A  rectangular 
arrangement  of  streets  js  convenient  and 
useful  for  houses  and  shops,  provided  an 


adequate  number  of  diagonal  avenues  and 
boulevards,  both  radial  and  encircling,  be 
added  thereto.  A  rectangular  lay-out 
without  diagonal  and  encircling  highways, 
which  far  too  many  American  towns  and 
cities  early  adopted,  is  wasteful  of  human 
and  animal  labor,  and  of  mechanical 
power,  and,  moreover,  provides  no  good 
sites  for  grand  or  precious  buildings. 
Every  fine  building  should  be  so  placed 
that  it  can  be  well  seen.  This  is  not  possi- 
ble, if  the  whole  city  is  made  up  of  streets 
fifty  or  sixty  feet  wide,  and  crossing  one 
another  at  right  angles.  The  Plan  pays 
great  attention  to  the  introduction  of  an 
adequate  number  of  avenues  and  boule- 
vards both  radial  and  encircling. 

The  present  streets  of  Chicago  proper 
provide  tolerably  well  for  the  movement 
of  persons  and  goods  from  north  to  south 
and  from  east  to  west,  although  there  is 
need  of  additional  facilities,  which  could 
be  obtained  by  widening  some  streets  and 
making  a  few  new  ones.  Movement  from 
the  suburbs  toward  the  center  of  the  city 
itself  is  partly  provided  for ;  but  the  radial 
arteries  need  developing.  Transit  across 
the  city  rectangles  is  very  defective,  and 
must  be  provided  by  extending  existing 
diagonal  streets,  and  cutting  some  new 
ones  through  areas  already  closely  built 
upon. 

Some  of  the  best  recommendations  in 
the  Plan  relate  to  the  width  of  various 
kinds  of  highways  and  the  nature  of  the 
pavements  to  be  used  in  them.  Thus,  resi- 
dence streets  do  not  need  wide  areas  of 
pavement,  but  rather  room  for  trees  and 
grass-plots.  A  width  of  from  twenty  to 
thirty-six  feet  is  enough  for  pavement. 
This  rule  should  be  obeyed  in  the  poorer 
quarters  quite  as  strictly  as  in  the  richer, 
for  there  it  is  more  important  that  men, 
women,  and  children  should  be  brought 
out  of  the  crowded  houses  into  the  better 
air  of  the  streets.  For  streets  which  carry 
heavy  traffic,  the  Plan  proposes  a  width  of 
from  seventy  to  ninety  feet,  with  a  road- 
way width  of  about  half  the  entire  space, 
and  pavements  of  stone,  in  spite  of  the 
noise ;  but  in  the  thronged  retail  district 
the  pavements  should  be  smooth  and  noise- 
less, in  spite  of  their  shorter  life  and  higher 
maintenance  cost ;  and  in  residential  quar- 
ters no  noisy  pavements  should  be  allowed. 

It  is  noticeable  that  the  Commercial 
Club  pays  attention  in  many  parts  of  its 


A   PROPOSED   "CIVIC   CENTER"    FOR   BALTIMORE 
From  the  plan  by  John  M.  Carrere,  Arnold  W.  Brunner,  and  Frederick  L.  Olmsted,  Jr.,  architects. 


Plan  to  the  economic  value  of  beautifying 
the  city,  as  well  as  to  the  wastefulness  of 
smoke,  dirt,  and  ugly,  irritating  sights  and 
sounds.  Thus,  in  connection  with  the 
highways,  the  Plan  recommends  the  re- 
moval from  the  streets  of  all  poles  for 
lighting  wires,  telegraph  and  telephone 
wires,  or  fire-alarm  and  power  wires. 
They  do  this  on  the  ground  that  such  dis- 
figurements diminish  the  mental  comfort 


and  physical  security  of  the  population, 
and  their  opportunities  for  open-air  enjoy- 
ment. If  city  life  is  to  be  made  as  physi- 
cally safe  for  the  population  as  country  life 
is,  the  city  must  not  be  permitted  to  be- 
come, or  to  remain,  ugly,  ill-smelling, 
gloomy,  or  irritating. 

From  the  third  class  of  thoroughfares, 
the  boulevards,  all  the  heavier  traffic 
should  be  excluded,  and  grass,  shrubs,  and 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 


429 


trees  should  be  made  to  abound.  One 
beneficial  result  of  this  policy  will  be  that 
the  boulevards  will  be  lined  with  fine 
dwellings.  Along  these  boulevards  statues 
and  fountains  will  ultimately  be  placed, 
and  smaller  parks  will  provide  playgrounds 
and  places  of  assembly.  The  Plan  recog- 
nizes the  great  economy  to  be  effected  by 
separating  residence  streets  from  traffic 
streets,  and  by  providing  on  the  general 
plan  for  permanent  traffic  streets.  When- 
ever a  residence  street  has  to  be  converted 
into  a  business  or  traffic  street,  or  is  ap- 
propriated by  a  railroad,  a  change  in  land 
values  occurs  which,  though  sometimes 
favorable  to  the  owners,  is  oftener  unfa- 
vorable, hence  much  uncertainty  and  hesi- 
tation on  the  part  of  the  prudent  citizen 
about  investing  in  a  residence. 

In  a  city  the  population  of  which  counts 
by  millions,  and  which  inevitably  has  con- 
gested districts,  it  is  of  the  utmost  impor- 
tance to  study  and  provide  for  the  streams 
of  pedestrian  travel.  In  many  American 
cities  the  sidewalks  are  too  narrow,  and 
the  streams  of  people  walking  flow  in  too 
large  numbers  on  too  few  lines;  hence 
much  delay  for  pedestrians,  and  much 
hindrance  of  traffic  on  wheels,  because  of 
the  necessity  of  allowing  the  processions  of 
pedestrians  to  cross  and  interrupt  the 
streams  of  traffic. 

The  Plan  calls  attention  to  a  regulation 
which  is  expedient  in  all  cities,  namely, 
that  buildings  should  be  set  back  from  the 
actual  line  of  the  street  by  a  definite  num- 
ber of  feet,  no  private  use  ever  again  to  be 
made  of  this  reservation.  Two  methods 
are  in  use  for  accomplishing  this  result: 
the  city  may  own  the  reserved  front  yards, 
just  as  the  Federal  Government  owns  the 
spaces  between  the  houses  and  the  side- 
walks in  Washington,  or,  as  in  Massachu- 
setts, a  set-back  for  all  buildings  may  be 
imposed  on  new  and  altered  highways,  and 
real  estate  situated  on  those  highways  may 
pass  from  owner  to  owner  under  the  im- 
posed restriction. 

The  principles  which  apply  to  the  recon- 
struction of  Chicago  in  regard  to  its  streets, 
avenues,  and  boulevards  are  applicable  to 
every  growing  American  city,  although 
Chicago  has  some  physical  advantages  in 
respect  to  the  lay-out  of  its  highways,  be- 
cause it  is  situated  on  an  immense  plain. 
The  common  requirements  are  convenient 
and  pleasant  means  of  access  to  the  main 


business  center  and  all  the  subordinate 
centers  which  are  the  working  places  by 
day,  equally  convenient  access  to  the  places 
of  recreation  and  refreshment,  and  lastly, 
as  much  light  and  air  as  possible  for  the 
dwellings,  factories,  and  school-houses. 
To  secure  these  ends,  the  routes  and  levels 
for  steam  railroads,  street-cars,  wagons, 
carriages,  and  pedestrians,  must  all  be 
studied  and  provided  for.  The  pavements, 
the  sidewalks,  and  the  grass  and  trees  in 
highways  must  be  equally  regarded,  and 
an  adequate  provision  of  open  spaces,  large 
and  small,  with  sites  for  fine  buildings  and 
for  statues  and  fountains,  must  be  care- 
fully planned. 

If  a  large  city  is  to  be  maintained  as  a 
single  unified  organism,  it  must  of  neces- 
sity have  a  civic  center  or  heart,  which 
may  not  be  at  its  center  of  population,  but 
must  be  at  or  near  the  center  of  its  com- 
mercial, financial,  and  industrial  activities. 
On  this  middle  ground  should  be  placed 
its  chief  public  buildings.  The  Plan  pro- 
vides a  Civic  Center  of  great  architectural 
merit  at  the  intersection  of  Congress  Street 
with  Halstead  Street,  a  center  to  which 
several  main  arteries  naturally  converge. 
On  this  spot  it  is  proposed  that  buildings 
should  be  erected  to  be  occupied  by  the 
City  of  Chicago,  Cook  County,  and  the 
Federal  Government,  the  City  Hall  being 
the  central  building.  The  central  admin- 
istrative building,  as  shown  in  the  illustra- 
tion on  page  424,  is  surmounted  by  a 
dome  of  great  height,  as  a  symbol  of  civic 
order  and  unity.  This  dome  would  rise 
high  above  the  surrounding  buildings, 
fronting  on  a  spacious  plaza.  Through 
this  plaza  an  immense  traffic  can  flow 
without  obstruction,  as  it  passes  through 
the  great  radial  arteries.  It  is  proposed 
that  these  arteries  shall  center  upon  an 
obelisk  in  the  middle  of  the  plaza.  The 
architectural  studies  made  for  the  build- 
ings at  this  civic  center  are  of  course  only 
suggestions ;  for  the  precise  form  of  these 
buildings  must  be  determined  hereafter  by 
the  requirements  for  city,  county,  and  na- 
tional offices.  The  designs  are  only  in- 
tended to  suggest  the  order,  dignity,  and 
beauty  which  should  stand  forth  at  the 
heart  of  a  great  unified  city.  The  old 
cities  of  the  world  possess  historical  monu- 
ments which  worthily  represent  their  dig- 
nity and  unity.  For  a  great  American 
city  of  the  future  the  present  generation 


PROPOSED  ARCHITECTURAL  TREATMENT   OF   TELEGRAPH   HILL, 

SAN  FRANCISCO.    LOOKING  EAST 
From  the  plan  prepared  by  Daniel  H.  Burnham,  assisted  by  Edward  H.  Bennett. 


ought  to  design  new  structures  which 
will  represent  its  intellectual  and  moral 
quality,  just  as  St.  Peter's  stands  for  Rome, 
Notre  Dame,  the  Louvre,  and  the  Tui- 
leries  for  Paris,  and  St.  Paul,  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  the  Parliament  Houses  for 
London.  Admirable  designs  for  civic  cen- 
ters at  Cleveland  and  Baltimore  are  re- 
produced in  the  next  two  illustrations. 

Chicago  needs  to  emphasize  and  adorn 
not  only  its  center,  but  the  diameter  which 
is  the  base-line  of  its  semicircular  area. 
This  diameter  is  Michigan  Avenue,  the 
main  connecting  thoroughfare  between  the 
north  and  the  south  side.  On  its  west- 
ern side  it  offers  for  a  considerable  distance 
admirable  sites  for  office  buildings,  hotels, 
clubs,  theaters,  music-halls,  and  shops  of 
the  best  sort ;  because  the  park  opposite 
insures  for  the  fronts  of  these  buildings 
light,  air,  and  an  agreeable  outlook.  This 
avenue  has  a  secured  width  of  a  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  throughout  the  portion  bor- 
dered by  Grant  Park.  The  Plan  proposes 
that  this  avenue  between  Chicago  Avenue 
on  the  north  and  Twelfth  Street  on  the 
south  shall  be  made  wide  enough  for  two 
parallel  roadways,  with  a  broad  sidewalk 
between  them.  One  of  these  roadways 


would  be  used  by  those  who  wish  to  stop 
at  the  shops,  hotels,  theaters,  or  clubs,  and 
the  other  by  those  who  do  not  wish  to 
stop  on  their  way.  The  sidewalk  next  to 
the  buildings  should  be  very  broad,  and 
the  roadways  should  be  made  attractive  by 
effective  planting.  The  Plan  proposes  a 
total  width  for  Michigan  Avenue  of  two 
hundred  and  forty-six  feet. 

The  Plan  also  provides  for  a  group  of 
buildings  in  Grant  Park,  east  of  Michigan 
Avenue,  consisting  of  the  Field  Museum, 
the  Art  Institute,  and  the  new  Crerar  Li- 
brary building,  three  monumental  build- 
ings devoted  to  letters,  arts,  and  science. 
It  seems  probable,  too,  that  the  central 
building  and  administrative  headquarters 
of  the  Public  Library  will  also  be  placed 
near  the  three  already  mentioned.  These 
buildings  would  all  have  kindred  uses,  so 
that  both  economy  and  effectiveness  would 
be  promoted  by  placing  them  in  proximity. 
Grant  Park  has  a  sufficient  area  to  provide 
them  all  with  spacious  sites. 

The  main  recommendations  contained 
in  the  "Plan  of  Chicago"  are  (i)  the  im- 
provement of  the  lake  front;  (2)  the  crea- 
tion of  a  system  of  well-designed  highways 
outside  the  city;  (3)  the  development  of  a 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  NEW  PLAN  OF  CHICAGO 


431 


complete  traction  system  for  both  freight 
and  passengers;  (4)  the  acquisition  of  a 
system  of  outer  parks  and  parkways;  (5) 
new  arrangements  of  streets  and  avenues 
within  the  city,  in  order  to  facilitate  the 
movement  of  persons  and  goods  in  all  di- 
rections by  short  lines;  (6)  the  develop- 
ment of  centers  of  intellectual  life  and  of 
civic  administration.  Certain  other  ele- 
ments in  good  city-planning  are  not  dealt 
with,  or,  rather,  are  only  incidentally  re- 
ferred to.  The  causes  of  the  injurious 
congestion  of  population,  and  the  remedies 
for  such  congestion,  do  not  form  distinct 
topics  in  the  Plan.  It  is  recommended  that 
the  city  at  once  adopt  and  enforce  proper 
building  standards  concerning  air  and  sun- 
light; but  the  great  desirableness  of  di- 
viding any  large  city  into  districts  in  each 
of  which  the  buildings  shall  not  exceed  a 
certain  height,  and  shall  not  cover  more 
than  a  specified  percentage  of  the  site  area, 
is  not  strongly  enforced.  For  cities  in 
general  a  uniform  prescription  concerning 
the  height  of  buildings  is  inexpedient,  and, 
indeed,  very  undesirable;  since  a  limit 
which  is  reasonable  for  the  manufacturing 
or  business  portions  of  a  city  may  be  alto- 
gether unfit  for  the  residence  portions. 

Certain  admirable  inventions  of  the  last 
thirty  years  have  provided  means  of  com- 
batting undue  congestion  of  population. 
Thus,  the  telephone  and  the  distribution 
of  mechanical  power  by  electricity  make  it 
convenient  to  carry  on  many  manufactur- 
ing operations  on  the  cheap  land  of  sub- 
urbs, rather  than  on  the  dear  land  of 
closely  built  cities,  the  working  people 
living  near  the  factories.  Again,  rapid 
transit  with  low  fares  has  enabled  people 
who  must  do  their  day's  work  in  cities  to 
keep  their  families  in  suburbs,  where  the 
women  and  children  can  have  fresh  air, 
sunlight,  and  bits  of  ground  to  cultivate. 
City-planning  ought  now  to  take  careful 
account  of  these  beneficent  influences,  and 
to  base  far-sighted  action  on  the  changed 
distribution  of  population,  and  the  im- 
proved conditions  of  life  which  they  make 
possible.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
some  inventions  which  have  been  so  used 
as  distinctly  to  impair  some  of  the  condi- 
tions of  life  in  large  cities.  The  lofty 
steel  buildings  put  thousands  of  people  on 
a  small  bit  of  ground,  thereby  congesting 
seriously  the  sewers  and  sidewalks  in  their 
neighborhood.  Increased  and  increasing 


charges  for  labor  and  materials  in  all 
building  trades  force  the  average  city  fam- 
ily into  smaller  and  smaller  quarters.  As 
rents  advance,  the  space  which  the  average 
family  can  pay  for  shrinks.  Rows  of  high 
buildings  convert  the  city  streets  into 
shaded,  ill-ventilated  ditches. 

The  American  democracy  has  naturally 
been  very  conservative  as  regards  individ- 
ual rights  of  property,  because  in  a  democ- 
racy almost  everybody  owrns  something, 
and  hopes  to  own  some  land.  Accordingly 
only  the  nomad  or  the  shiftless,  hand-to- 
mouth  laborer  is  inclined  to  attack  the 
rights  of  the  individual  landed  proprietor, 
even  when  great  evils  arise  from  the  sa- 
credness  of  the  individual  right  which  is 
conflicting  with  the  interests  of  society  as 
a  whole. 

The  Massachusetts  legislation,  under 
which  the  greatest  city  problems,  such  as 
water-supply,  sewerage,  and  parks,  can  be 
dealt  with  by  appointed  commissions  which 
enjoy  the  temporary  use  of  the  State's 
credit,  control  adequate  city  and  country 
areas,  and  disburse  money  raised  by  taxa- 
tion from  many  municipalities  by  a  com- 
mon method,  is  capable  of  other  judicious 
applications,  as,  for  instance,  to  the  care  of 
the  public  health,  the  provision  of  adequate 
fire  protection,  and  the  maintenance  of  an 
effective  police  force.  When  the  question 
arises  how  to  get  the  "Plan  of  Chicago" 
executed,  this  Massachusetts  way  will  de- 
serve consideration,  provided  the  political 
conditions  in  Illinois  are  such  as  to  prom- 
ise good  appointments.  In  the  meantime 
all  men  can  learn  from  this  remarkable 
Plan  how  much  good  city-planning  has  to 
do  with  the  conservation  of  human  health, 
intelligence,  and  morality,  natural  re- 
sources which  are  quite  as  well  worth  con- 
sidering as  forests,  water-powers,  water- 
ways, and  mines. 

Finally,  if  the  democracy  of  a  great 
American  city  can  comprehend  and  appro- 
priate such  a  beneficent  project  as  this 
"Plan  of  Chicago,"  when  put  before  them 
by  a  group  of  unusually  intelligent  and 
public-spirrted  private  citizens,  and  can 
then  get  it  well  executed  with  promptness 
and  prudence,  it  will  be  a  good  omen  for 
the  perpetuity  of  democratic  institutions. 
The  many  will  then  have  shown  a  capacity 
for  sound  progress  which  most  social  phi- 
losophers have  thought  was  to  be  expected 
onlv  from  the  select  few. 


Drawn  by  Lester  Ralph 
•THY  TEMPLE  IS  THE  AZURE  NIGHT' 


CHICAGO:   A  CITY  OF  HOMES 


969 


A  STUDIED  ATTEMPT  AT  VARIETY 
In  these  blocks  the  architect  has  avoided  monotony  by  emphasizing  details  in  separate  houses 


tern  of  the  city  has  had  the  usual  difficul- 
ties with  politics  in  the  board  and  occa- 
sional insurrection  among  the  teachers; 
but  it  has  been  steadily  improved,  its  old 
buildings  are  giving  place  to  new  and 
well-equipped  structures,  and  the  time  is 
coming  when  increased  funds  will  permit 
many  reforms  not  yet  practicable.  The 
splendid  public  libraries  of  the  city,  its 
schools  of  music  and  art,  its  university 
and  other  centers  of  higher  education  are 
better  described  under  another  title ;  but 
they  all  help  to  make  Chicago  a  city  of 
homes,  a  city  where  any  ambitious  boy 
or  girl  or  man  or  woman  may  win  a  liberal 
education.  Newspapers  can  not  always 
be  spoken  of  as  educational  institutions. 
Chicago,  however,  has  the  best  newspapers 
in  the  United  States,  as  unprejudiced 
judges  nearly  always  admit  when  they 
investigate  the  subject.  At  least  four  or 
five  of  these  journals,  by  their  fair,  well- 
balanced  presentation  of  the  day's  events, 
their  special  news  service,  and  their 
capable  editorials,  are  helping  to  shape 
the  city's  thinking  in  the  right  direction. 
Well-edited  newspapers  in  eastern  cities 
are  nearly  all  so  biased  either  by  partisan 
politics  or  by  obligations  to  the  money 
power,  that  the  intelligent  classes  read 
them,  so  to  speak,  under  protest,  while 
the  unintelligent  classes  ignore  them  and 


are  swayed  by  yellow  journals.  Chicago 
presents  the  singular  spectacle  of  a  city 
with  several  daily  papers  popular  enough 
for  the  million  and  reliable  and  sensible 
enough  for  men  and  women  of  ideas. 

Housing  problems  are  always  the  most 
serious  in  a  large  city.  With  all  the  im- 
provements in  rapid  transit,  transporta- 
tion has  not  kept  pace  with  population 
in  any  of  our  American  cities,  and  the 
result  is  congestion  of  the  middle-class 
residence  districts.  The  average  Chicago 
family  with  an  income  of  less  than  $1,200 
must  live  in  an  apartment.  But,  unlike 
New  York,  there  are  thousands  of  men 
of  moderate  means  who  do  own  their  own 
homes  in  the  city  proper.  It  is  rather 
the  restlessness  characteristic  of  city  life 
than  actual  pecuniary  inability  that  pre- 
vents many  of  the  flat-dwellers  from 
settling  down  in  a  city  home  of  their  own. 
The  usual  place  for  the  small  householder, 
however,  is  the  suburbs,  where  a  given 
sum  of  money  will  purchase  a  larger  lot 
and  a  larger  house.  Transportation  to 
most  of  the  suburbs,  on  the  steam  railroad 
lines,  is  really  swifter  and  pleasanter  than 
to  many  parts  of  the  city  reached  only  by 
surface  cars. 

If  one  is  to  speak  of  the  architecture  of 
Chicago  residences,  the  very  small  city 
houses  and  the  apartment  buildings  where 


970 


CHICAGO :   A  CITY  OP  HOMES 


PROFESSORS'  RESIDENCES  NEAR  THE  UNIVERSITY 

A  group  of  houses  of  great  dignity  and  moderate  cost.     The  terrace  and  vines  add  grace  to  the  somewhat  heavy 

lines  of  the  brick  fronts 


the  majority  live  are  practically  ruled  out. 
Neither  class  has  many  claims  to  beauty. 
There  are  apartment  houses  built  for  peo- 
ple of  means,  which  attempt  some  archi- 
tectural effect  aside  from  the  conventional 
stone  trimming — buildings  with  a  central 
court  adorned  with  grass  and  flowers, 
buildings  with  ornamental  ironwork  and 
carved  stone.  The  necessity  for  a  maxi- 
mum of  windows,  however,  and  the  pro- 
saic requirements  of  the  back  porches  and 
stairways  make  a  beautiful  apartment 
house  almost  an  unthinkable  idea.  For 
beauty  one  looks  rather  to  the  residences 
in  the  better  parts  of  the  city,  where 


persons  of  taste  and  means  have  deliber- 
ately set  out  to  make  an  artistic  unit  out 
of  four  walls  and  a  roof.  On  such  streets 
as  Drexel  and  Grand  Boulevards  and 
Lake  Shore  Drive  and  many  of  the  less 
famous  streets  of  the  lake  wards,  a  most 
interesting  study  may  be  made  of  the 
types  of  domestic  architecture  of  the  old 
and  the  new  Chicago. 

There  are,  first,  the  plain,  substantial 
brown-stone  houses  of  the  old  families, 
erected  between  1872  and  1880;  divided 
between  the  South  Side  district  from  Six- 
teenth to  Thirty-first  Street,  the  Union 
Park  neighborhood  on  the  West,  and  the 


CHICAGO:   A  CITY  OF  HOMES 


971 


North  Side  streets  near  the  lake.  These 
are  without  exception  in  good  taste,  and 
have  an  air  of  solid  comfort  which  shows 
what  sort  of  luxury  was  preferred  by  the 
wealthy  men  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 
Not  a  few  of  the  most  famous  families 
still  retain  these  modest  homes.  Instead 
of  erecting  new  and  showy  city  houses, 
they  are  laying  out  their  money  on  coun- 
try places  at  Lake  Geneva  or  Oconomowoc 
or  on  some  farm  accessible  to  the  city, 
where  they  spend  nearly  half  the  year. 

The  era  of  bad  taste  among  the  rich 
seems  to  have  been  contemporaneous  with 
the  development  of  the  Bedford  stone 
quarries.  When  the  gray  Indiana  stone 
began  to  be  shipped  to  Chicago  in  large 
quantities  architects  began  to  lavish  it  on 


any  kind  of  absurdity  that  perverse  in- 
genuity may  invent.  Along  some  of  the 
boulevards  one  may  see  houses  of  this 
sort — houses  worth  a  fortune  apiece,  and 
as  meaningless,  incoherent,  foolish  as 
some  of  the  billboards  that  disfigure  the 
landscape. 

Happily  this  era  of  pretentious  shams 
has  given  place  to  better  styles.  Archi- 
tects now  strive  for  individuality,  char- 
acter, meaning,  in  any  house  they  may 
be  called  on  to  erect.  Sometimes  the 
striving  for  variety  is  carried  too  far; 
shunning  any  uniformity,  the  builder  of  a 
row  puts  a  new  kind  of  gable  and  porch 
on  every  house,  with  a  result  more  dizzy- 
ing than  desirable.  But  more  rational 
application  of  the  principle  is  becoming 


VARIETY  AND  UNITY  IX  A  ROW  OF  CITY  HOUSES 

Both  as  a  group  and  as  a  unit  these  residences  must  be  pronounced  a  successful  novelty 


big,  gaudy  houses  with  round  towers  and 
gothic  windows  and  Romanesque  arches 
and  all  manner  of  claptrap.  There  are 
whole  rows  of  these  things  standing  to- 
day, with  millions  of  money  tied  up  in 
them  and  not  a  simple  line  or  restful  con- 
tour in  the  whole  lot.  Of  course  the  stone 
quarries  should  not  be  held  wholly  re- 
sponsible, for  a  blundering  architect  can 
evolve  some  very  depressing  effects  from 
the  harmless,  necessary  brick.  But  the 
stone  somehow  aggravates  the  offense  by 
giving  an  air  of  opulence  and  dignity  to 


the  rule.  An  excellent  example  of  va- 
riety in  the  working  out  of  a  single  style 
is  found  in  the  professors'  residences  and 
neighboring  houses  near  the  University  of 
Chicago.  Somebody  started  the  fashion, 
ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  of  building  a 
house  with  living  room  or  library  across 
the  full  width  of  the  front,  the  main  en- 
trance often  being  at  the  side.  Sooiybij 
square,  brick  residences  began  to  appear 
on  all  sides,  preserving  the  ruliiig^ 
of  a  house  built  for  comfort  and 
interior  with  avoidance  of  all  meretri 


972 


CHICAGO:   A  CITY  OF  HOMES 


A  RESIDENCE  PARK 

TheaSwns  between  the  rows  of  residences  are  held  in  common  by  the  property-owners.    Several  such  parks  were  established 

a  generation  ago  on  the  South  Side 


ornament ;  and  varying  in  details  accord- 
ing to  the  fancy  of  the  owner.  The  style 
happened  to  be  new  in  Chicago,  and  its 
adoption  in  Hyde  Park  has  already  given 
to  that  part  of  the  city  an  air  of  dis- 
tinction altogether  superior  to  the  gaudy 
splendors  of  some  of  the  palaces  down 
town. 

Socially  democratic  in  spirit,  Chicago 
presents  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  snob- 
bery of  some  other  big  towns  where  money 
is  king.  Of  course  there  are  social  classes 
and  barriers  as  there  must  be  in  any  so- 
ciety founded  on  wealth.  But  the  minor 
difference  of  rank  and  income  and  family 
count  for  less  than  they  do  in  any  other 
great  city  of  the  land.  As  for  neighbor- 
liness,  there  is  little  of  that  in  any  large 
city,  if  by  it  one  means  social  courtesies 
biased  on  proximity  without  previous  ac- 
j^uajntance.  Chicago  is  no  better  and  no 
worse  in  this  respect  than  any  other  place 
of  its  size.  Strangers  coming  here  to  live 
will  make  their  friends  through  such 


social  opportunities  as  may  open  in  the 
churches,  the  neighborhood  clubs,  and 
similar  agencies.  They  will  find  the  city 
split  up  not  merely  into  three  great  iso- 
lated divisions,  but  into  a  multitude  of 
minor  districts,  each  with  its  own  charac- 
teristics. Chicago's  best  friend  could  not 
call  her  as  yet  a  unified  city.  She  is  a 
dozen  small  cities  grown  together,  with  a 
single  business  district.  Within  her 
borders  may  be  found  nearly  all  the  kinds 
of  homes  in  the  world,  some  of  the  worst 
as  well  as  some  of  the  best.  But  in  op- 
portunities for  building  a  home  out  of 
the  raw  material  Chicago  is  rich  indeed. 
Among  these  opportunities  not  the  least 
is  the  free  and  unlimited  permission 
which  Chicago  gives  to  every  citizen  to 
work  out  his  own  salvation  in  his  own 
way.  Out  of  the  experiments  and  suc- 
cesses of  the  present  is  coming  by  and  by 
a  sort  of  higher  unity  in  diversity  which 
will  make  this  city  by  the  lake  more  truly 
than  ever  the  typical  city  of  America. 


CH 


